Moon and Sun: The Seven Elements
by Umbreon Mastah
Summary: The third installment in the Moon and Sun series. There is a legend that seven special Pokemon when together have powers that can save the universe...or destroy it. And now Umbreon, Lucario, and co. are stuck in the middle of it! Rated T for safety. R&R!
1. Trouble at the Doorstep

Okay, everyone, I'm back!

Sorry it took so long, but my brain was mush and I couldn't think of any ideas. But, anyway, about the fic.

There's going to be a some humor, a (most likely sad) attempt at romance, and a bit of adventure. And, of course, everyone's favorite characters!! But maybe you'd just like to read the fic, hmm? Then skip my rantings and read. Sorry if it's a little short!

I suggest that you read my first to fics, _Escape from the Pack _and _Betrayal in the Tree, _if you want to understand any of this.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that Nintendo does. Horrible, I know.

* * *

The world was still the night that it began.

A Jolteon, ready to faint, desperately tried to pull himself along. Blood dripped down his face and out of the corner of his mouth. His body was covered with bruises, sores, and fresh wounds. Struggling to keep himself awake, he saw a small light in the distance. His vision blurred, but he was determined to get to the light. As the Jolteon drew closer, he saw the dim outline of a house, and he heard faint laughter and indistinguishable voices. When he finally reached the door, the electric fox weakly raised his paw to knock. The door opened, and an Umbreon answered. "Yes?" she said, but gasped when she saw the Jolteon's state.

"Please," he whispered hoarsely, "help me." Then he collapsed.

* * *

"Oh. My. God," was all Umbreon said. Then, shaking herself, she screamed, "Guys, get out here NOW!" Her companions, a young brunette, a teenage blond, a dark-haired boy, and a Lucario, Mew, and Mesprit, all dashed to the door.

"What's wro...?" Lucario asked, but stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the unconscious Pokémon on the doorstep.

"What happened to _him_?" questioned the brunette, Kiki, clenching her stomach as if she was going to be sick. Umbreon shrugged, then closed her eyes.

"His Aura seems fine," she reported, "but I think we'd better get him inside." The others agreed, and Rose, the blond, picked the Jolteon up gently and brought him inside.

"The poor thing," Mew muttered.

"I wonder what happened," said Mesprit.

"Do you think he got hit by a car?"

"It doesn't look like any bones are broken. Maybe he annoyed a Poochyena. They can be vicious." The two started rattling off the ways that the Jolteon could have gotten beaten up. By the end of the list more than one person in the house had a green face.

"_Guys._" John was one of the only ones in a state to talk. Rose had run for the bathroom, and both Umbreon and Kiki had covered their ears and starting singing to themselves.

"Oh. Sorry," apologized Mew with sudden realization.

"He looks like he's been attacked," stated Lucario.

"But by what?" asked Umbreon. Lucario shrugged.

"How about you ask him yourself?" Kiki offered. Everyone turned their heads to Jolteon, lying on the sofa and slowly stirring from his coma.

* * *

Jolteon blinked once, twice. _Where am I? _he thought. He moved his legs to get up, but there was pain everywhere. Vision returning, he looked down at his paw. It was covered in blood. Then he remembered.

The monster. The fear that ripped into his skin and left him unable to help her, to save her. Her scream as they took her from him. The pain. Her pain.

"Are you okay?"

Jolteon tried to look up. "Vaporeon?" he asked wanly.

"Um...no..." Lifting his head, he saw an Umbreon staring at him with her deep crimson eyes.

"W-who are you?" he stuttered.

"I'm Umbreon, and this is Lucario, Kiki, Mesprit, John, and Mew." For the first time, Jolteon noticed the others looking at him curiously.

"I got them!" Rose shouted happily as she rushed back into the room, a dozen or so Potions in her hands.

"Thanks, Rose," replied Kiki as she took about half of them and started spraying the yellow fox's wounds. "So, what happened?"

It took Jolteon a few seconds to realize that the brunette was speaking to him. And then it took him a few more seconds to realize what she was talking about. After that, he took more than a few seconds to figure out how to explain it, so by the time he was ready to speak, the entire party was wondering if he had gone deaf.

"Well, it was late last night, and my friend Vaporeon and I were asleep. Suddenly, a huge bolt of purple lightning woke me up. I shook Vaporeon awake, and another lightning bolt crashed, this time right outside our door. I looked out, and a huge ball of dark energy shot our door down. I saw purple eyes glaring at me, and then..." Jolteon paused.

"What?" asked John.

"It was like my worst nightmare come to life. It dug into me," he said, shuddering. "I could tell that it was happening to Vaporeon, too; I could hear her screaming. Then, quite suddenly, I was released, but I couldn't move at all. I saw that...that thing drag Vaporeon away, and then I heard maniacal laughter. There was a flash of purple light, and then they were gone. After that I passed out."

"What thing?" Umbreon inquired.

Jolteon shrugged. "There were actually two. One was definitely a human, and the other was some kind of monster. That was the one who attacked us. It was about as tall as the human, but it was more menacing, in a way. I could only see silhouettes." The others exchanged ideas about who the attackers could be, except for Mew, who was sitting on a chair, terror in her eyes.

Mesprit noticed and asked her, "What's wrong?" Her answer drew everyone's attention.

"He's back," she whispered, trembling. "He's back and he'll destroy us all."

* * *

Well that's it for now. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.

Umbreon: Don't count on it.

Me: Get out of here! Anyway, please R&R!

Umbreon Mastah


	2. What Mew Knew

Well, here it is, and I'm sure you're all saying, "That was fast." Well, I got inspired, okay?

This one's a bit longer, with a tad of humor (I love saying "What the fudge!" :) ) and some deep dark secrets. Mwahahahahahaha!

Okay, evil laugh time's over. This one introduces some characters, too, so I hope it's not too hectic. :)

Disclaimer: Man, I wish I owned Pokemon, but, sadly, it is not so... :(

Enjoy!

* * *

"Who's back, Mew?" asked Lucario. But Mew wouldn't answer. She just kept rocking back and forth muttering, "He's back," over and over again under her breath. Her eyes were wide and the fur on the back of her neck was up. 

"Mew? Mew? Mew, snap out of it!" Kiki snapped her fingers in front of the pink Pokémon's face a few times, then started clapping, then, exhausted, said, "This is a job for Stunky." She released the small skunk Pokémon and muttered, "Code Green." Stunky jumped up and down excitedly.

"Code Green, Code Green!" he shouted happily.

"Kiki, no! Not Code Green!" Umbreon yelled, but it was too late. Stunky leapt up to Mew, positioned himself beside her left ear, and let out a huge belch.

"EEK!!!" Mew shrieked, jumping into the air. "What the fudge was _that_?"

A frightened Jolteon, who had ended up behind the coach, shaking from the volume of the burp, poked Umbreon's shoulder and asked quietly, "What the fudge _was _that?"

Umbreon, her fur frizzed up and an annoyed look on her face, said, in a pissed voice, "_That_ was a Code Green."

"My work here is done," said Stunky. With a bow, he returned to his Pokéball. The room was silent for a while.

Finally, Rose, whose hair had become a mess of fluff, screamed, "I'm gonna _KILL YOU,_ Kiki!" She lunged at the brunette.

"Crap," Kiki muttered as she dodged another tackle from the raging blond.

"Seriously, Mew," asked John, as Rose chased Kiki around the room, "who's back?" Mew sighed.

"Maybe I should just show you."

* * *

At the Tree of Beginning, the group entered Mew's room, which now had a cot where Mesprit slept hanging above her bed. Mew led them over to a small tree, a young poplar. Touching the smallest branch three times, she stepped back as the poplar moved to the left, revealing a secret room. 

"Wow," said Mesprit, "you never told me you had one of these!"

"Doesn't everyone?" she replied. Grabbing one of her many scented candles (this one happed to be Pecha berry) and lighting it, Mew handed it off to Kiki, telling her that those things were a lot safer in a hand with a thumb.

The six gasped at what they saw. The entire room was filled with books, from the overcrowded shelves to the stacks that littered the floors. "You like to read?" asked Umbreon. Mew nodded. Then, she headed to the tiniest shelf and pulled a thick book out from the bottom. Blowing the dust off the cover, she opened it up.

There were pictures everywhere. The first one was of Mew, a goofy smile plastered on her face. The next showed her cheering at a baseball game. But the one after that showed Mew with another Pokémon. He looked kind of like Mew, except he was taller and had a longer tail. He was mostly grey, but his tail and his belly were purple. His eyes glowed a deep violet, and his hands had three fingers, each with a sort of ball at the bottom. The two were eating birthday cake, and the strange Pokémon had a party hat on his head. Jolteon gasped.

"That's the monster!"

* * *

"What?!" shouted Kiki, Mesprit, John, Lucario, Rose, and Umbreon. Jolteon nodded, and Mew sighed. 

"His name is Mewtwo," she said solemnly. "I...knew him before he went bad. He was a good Pokémon. I don't really know what happened." She sighed again, turning the page to her and Mewtwo making paper airplanes.

"You mean, you _know _the guy who beat Jolteon up and kidnapped Vaporeon?" Rose asked, stunned. "You were his _friend?_" Mew nodded.

_More than that,_ she thought to herself. She flipped the page again. This picture showed her and Mewtwo hugging each other. Mew quickly turned the page back. She closed the book and set it down. "I knew it was him when you mentioned purple lightning, Jolteon," she said. "He loved the color purple. Said it reminded him of sorrow, and how you could always chase it away. I think he was wrong, though." A tear started to form under her eye, but she swiftly wiped it away before anyone saw.

* * *

"Let me go!" shouted a Vaporeon through the bars of her cage. She heard a snicker from the other side of the room. 

"But you just got here, my dear," said the menacing voice that we all know and hate. Ciar stepped out from the shadows, a smirk on his face. "Maybe if you behave I'll release you...but only after I capture all of your little buddies. And trust me, I will."

"What buddies?" Vaporeon snarled. "If you mean Jolteon, you should have captured him along with me. It would have made me feel better anyway." Ciar let out a laugh.

"No, I'm not talking about your stupid little boyfriend. I think my friend over here made mincemeat out of him, didn't you?" A Pokémon, sitting in a chair beside the Pack leader, nodded. "Hey you!" he shouted to an Espeon, sitting in the corner meditating. She looked up.

"Yes, sir?" She had a scar on her face, a slash under her right eye.

"How's the search coming, you worthless piece of junk?"

"It's coming, sir," she replied, unfazed by the insult. "I've found another Elementalist, sir."

_Elementalist? _Vaporeon wondered. _Is that what they think I am?_

"Good." Ciar's smirk widened. "Which one is it?"

"The Dark Elementalist, sir. The Umbreon."

"So," he asked impatiently, "where is it?"

"I think you may have met her before, sir," said the Espeon. "She lives by the Tree of Beginning."

Ciar's smirk changed to a frown. "Oh, _her._ The one who hangs around with Lucario and that Mew." At the sound of Mew's name the creature's ears perked up. "Well, I've been wondering when my next chance to grab Lucario would be, so now I'll get a 2-for-1 deal! We'll attack in three days. I want my Pokémon ready, Espeon, you piece of dirt, you hear me? And find the rest of those Elementalists!"

"Yes, sir," she responded, and she ran off to tell Ciar's Pokémon. Vaporeon gasped. They were going to deal with Mew, the creator? Were they stupid? As she lay her head down on her paws, she deemed it better for her if they were.

"Excuse me, I need to make a phone call," the creature informed Ciar. Ciar nodded, and he floated out of the room. Picking up the phone, he dialed in the number and waited as the phone rang.

* * *

Still pondering what to do about Mewtwo, the gang was startled when Mew's phone rang. "I'll get it," Mew said. Exiting the secret room, she glanced around for the phone. The others followed her out. "Mesprit, where'd you put that darned thing?" she shouted. 

"What do you mean, 'where'd _I _put it'? You used it last!" he retorted.

"No, you called the pizza guy last night!"

"And you called Celebi this morning! And stayed on for about _twenty hours_!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did...hey look, I found it!" Mesprit rolled his eyes and the others sighed. Mew pressed the "receive call" button and held the phone up to her ear. She was met with a snicker. "You," she growled.

"Hello," said the voice, loud enough for the entire party to hear, "Mother."

* * *

Me like cliffhangers. :) 

Thanks again for reading, and R&R please!

Umbreon: That's all folks!

Me: Hey, isn't that Porky Pig's line? (sigh)

I'll update soon!

-Umbreon Mastah


	3. The Secret's Out

Here's the third chapter. I guess it's longer...but anyway! I hope this one explains Espeon and Jolteon a little more!...well, what are you waiting for? Read!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, Super Smash Brothers Melee, or James Bond. Heck, I don't even own a proper computer!

Have fun, peoples!

* * *

"MOTHER!" Every jaw in the room, save for Mew's, was dropped. 

"Yes, 'Mother'," Mew said with a scowl. "Now keep it down while I talk to this imbecile son of mine."

"Not a very kind way to speak to your son, Mother," said the voice on the other end. "Why, I haven't heard from you since..."

"...you tried to kill me, you stupid...!"

"Now, now, Mother, don't lose your temper."

"How dare you speak to me like that, you...you...!" Mew's eyes were a flaming red now.

"Oh boy, she's gonna explode," muttered Kiki.

Mew tried to calm down. "So, _Mewtwo,_ why did you decide to call me this fine night?" she said, her voice straining.

"Just to tell you that I was going to be in your area in about three days' time, so you wouldn't be surprised if I dropped by...," Mewtwo replied.

"Set one foot in this house and I'll rip you to shreds!" Mew threatened.

"Like you'd kill your own flesh and blood!"

"You're not my flesh and blood, you're a piece of my hair that some stupid scientist happened to pick up!"

"Ooh, cold," he said mockingly. "So, I'll see you and that Elementalist in three days." He snickered. "How did we used to end these conversations? Oh, yes: _I love you, Mother._"

"_I hate you, Mewtwo._" With that, she hung up the phone and slammed it onto the end table near her bed. No one spoke for a few minutes as Mew tried to cool down. She wasn't succeeding.

"You never told me you had a son," said Mesprit. Mew looked up at him.

"Did you really want to know?" she asked him through her deep breathing exercise.

"Well, isn't that kind of something I _need_ to know?" She sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because...because...because I didn't want anyone to know that I raised the Pokémon who kills like it's a sport, that I brought him up, that I _loved him!_" Tears forming in her eyes, she dashed into the secret room and touched a certain spot on the wall. The poplar moved back into its regular place, and Mew whispered to herself, "That I love him..."

* * *

"Good job, Mesprit," said Umbreon. 

"What did I do?" Umbreon gave him a look that meant _wake up and smell the coffee_. "Oh, yeah," he sighed.

"Mew?" he called, tapping the branch three times like Mew did earlier. It wouldn't open. "Mew, I'm sorry!"

"Go away!" came the voice from inside. "All of you! Just leave me alone!"

"But, Mew, I..."

"And if you see that stupid son of mine, tell him I've moved to Austria!"

Mesprit opened his mouth to call out again, but Lucario nudged him and said, "I think we should go." Reluctantly, he nodded and took one last look at the poplar before leaving with the others.

Once the footsteps died out, inside the room Mew finally broke down and cried.

* * *

"So, I'm sure Mom would be okay with Mesprit and Jolteon staying at our house," Kiki told the group. The other two humans nodded, and they went their separate ways, John to his house, Rose to hers, and Kiki, Umbreon, Lucario, Mesprit, and Jolteon to Kiki's. Kiki swung open the door and looked at the mess that the group had made. "Maybe not," she muttered, "when she sees this." Running off to get a mop and bucket, she called to the four Pokémon, "Decide what rooms those two are going to sleep in!" There were a few moments of silence. The four glanced back and forth at each other. Suddenly, a huge fight broke out. "What is going on out there?" shouted Kiki from the kitchen. 

The four stopped for a second and Umbreon called sweetly, "Nothing, Kiki!" Then the fight resumed. Kiki walked in, a frown on her face.

"Sure," she said. "Mesprit's with Lucario and Jolteon's with Umbreon. Now go to bed before you wreck the living room even more!" They trekked up the stairs, mumbling some okays and yes, moms.

"We were gonna come up with that combination anyway, right guys?" Umbreon said. The other three nodded, and Lucario and Mesprit went into Lucario's room. "This way," she told Jolteon. He followed her into a large room. There were posters of Pokémon rock groups, a chart of every berry known to Pokémon-kind, a large collection of Pokémon plushies in the right-hand corner, a small black Pokémon bed on one side of the room, and on the other side, a Gamecube and the biggest collection of Gamecube games that Jolteon had ever seen. As Umbreon pulled out a second Pokémon bed from her closet, she noticed Jolteon staring at it in awe and said, "Wanna play? I've got Super Smash Bros. Melee!"

"Super Smash what?" Umbreon shook her head and turned the Gamecube on.

* * *

Jolteon, thoroughly exhausted, lay down in the bed. _Super Smash Brothers is addicting,_ he thought to himself as he looked at the clock, reading four in the morning. _I'm sure Vaporeon would like it._ That reminded him of what happened. "Oh god," he muttered. "What did I get myself into? I go to get help and find that thing's mother." He sighed. "This is going to cause some complications." He remembered Mew's threat over the phone. "If she doesn't rip him to shreds, I will," he told himself. 

They _had_ to attack that night. The night before he was going to ask. Jolteon hated the thought that, maybe, if they had attacked later, Vaporeon would have known how he felt. He shook that out of his head. If he hadn't been attacked by Mewtwo, he wouldn't have met his new friends, whom he hoped could help him save Vaporeon. He wouldn't have known that he could kick butt with Sheik on Super Smash Bros. He wouldn't have known that Mewtwo was going to be in this area, and he could have his revenge. _Elementalist..._ Somehow that word was familiar. But it didn't really matter; that monster was going to be here and Jolteon planned to kill him.

_But still,_ Jolteon thought as he drifted off, _most of me wishes it had never happened._

* * *

The next morning, Espeon woke up to the sound of rumbling. "He's traveling already?" she mumbled sleepily. Rubbing the sleepers out of her eyes, she got out of bed wearily and trudged up to the top deck of Ciar's "genius" idea, a moving hideout. "Brilliant, sir," was what Espeon said, but what she meant was, "Oh joy, motion sickness." 

"Finally, you lazy pile of Tauros crap! I was wondering when you'd show your face," Ciar greeted her. _Lazy pile of Tauros crap? That's a new one,_ she thought._ Oh well, another insult for me, another bite on the butt for him. _"Get meditating," he said. "We need to find those other Elementalists."

"Yes sir." Closing her eyes, she took note of the locations of the seven dots that appeared before her mind. She spotted the two that she had "found." Then she looked at the others. _Ciar isn't getting these ones so easily,_ she told herself. "Nothing new, sir," Espeon reported.

"Drat," cursed Ciar. "You'd better find them soon, or else, got that, you purple slime ball? Dismissed!"

"Yes sir," she said as she walked back downstairs. _Purple slime ball? I think that one counts for two bites on the butt._

Once she reached the bottom floor, Espeon noticed that the Water Elementalist was awake. She seemed a lot less tense than yesterday, probably because Mewtwo wasn't around. As a fellow Psychic Pokémon, Espeon had a certain amount of respect for Mewtwo, but she still considered him a pain in the butt. A _big_ pain in the butt, ever since he started calling her "The Tracker" instead of Espeon. It was better than "slime ball" though, she figured.

"Hey," she called to the Vaporeon.

An angry look crossed Vaporeon's face. "What do you want?" she snarled back. Espeon sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Well, I _was_ going to tell you about that Jolteon, but, since you obviously don't want to hear it, I guess I won't tell you." Vaporeon's expression softened.

"You know about Jolteon? Where is he?" Espeon smiled, remembering the yellow dot directly next to the black one.

"You're going to see him soon," she said.

"How do you know?" Vaporeon asked. Espeon was about to tell her when a loud cry echoed through the hideout:

"ARE MY POKÉMON READY, SLIMEBALL?" Espeon sighed.

"How about I tell you later?" Vaporeon nodded. Espeon started to walk down to the Pokémon rooms.

"Wait!" called Vaporeon. "I'm Vaporeon! What's your name?" The psychic Pokémon grinned.

"The name's Agent Psybeam. Espeon Psybeam."

* * *

Mew was up all night looking in the photo album. Tears still dripped down her face, crashing onto the pages and joining the other stains that came before them. "Why me?" she sighed. She turned to the next page, showing her and Mewtwo making Christmas cookies. He looked so..._happy_. How could he have turned out to be so evil? 

_That's not him, _she told herself. _That Mewtwo is gone._

"I know," Mew said aloud, "but some days I wish that he wasn't."

* * *

I know I stole that from James Bond, but I just had to put it there! 

The next chapter's gonna be up as soon as I can get it up, so look out for chapter 4!

And now...(dashes away to write more)

-Umbreon Mastah


	4. The Seven Elementalists

Alright people, here it is. The one, the only...(drumroll) CHAPTER FIVE!

Umbreon: idiot...

Me: Would you be quiet? Enjoy the funniness, people!

Umbreon: Funniness isn't a word.

Me: I told you to be quiet! (evil glare)

Umbreon: RUN AWAY!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the fic and my own characters, kay?

Now read while I go chase Umbreon!

* * *

That afternoon, Kiki, Mesprit, Lucario, Umbreon, and Jolteon all set out for the Tree of Beginning to check on Mew. The entire trip, the word _Elementalist_ kept poking at Jolteon's mind. He knew that he had heard it during that conversation on the phone, but he had heard it elsewhere, too. "Hey, guys," he asked as they reached Mew's door, "do you have any idea what an Elementalist is?"

"Nope."

"Nah-ah."

"No clue."

"Not in the slightest."

"Thanks," the electric fox replied sarcastically. "Maybe Mew knows." Lucario knocked on the door.

"Mew, it's us!" he called.

There was no reply. Lucario tried the knob and, surprisingly, it opened. "Oh god," Kiki said frantically, "the door's unlocked! That means something horrible's happened! Mew! NO!!!!!!"

"Stop freaking out, you worrywart, I'm right here," said Mew as she floated out of the secret room.

"MEW!" Kiki shrieked, grabbing her and squeezing her tightly. "I thought I'd never ever see you again."

Jolteon looked at Lucario questioningly. "She does this kind of stuff all the time," the fighting type told him.

"Can't...breathe," Mew stuttered between gasps for air. Reluctantly, Kiki put her down.

"Erm, sorry 'bout that..." Mew rolled her eyes.

"Um, Mew? I'm sorry, too," Mesprit apologized. "For last night."

"No, I should have told you sooner," she sighed. "And I'm sorry I freaked out like that, too."

"No, it's my fault. _I _freaked out."

"Still..."

Umbreon, knowing that this would turn into another argument, quickly interrupted, "Mew, Jolteon has something to ask you."

"Oh, yeah!" said Jolteon with sudden realization. "Have you ever heard of an Elementalist?" Mew pondered this for a few seconds.

"I think I recall reading that in one of my books. I'll check." The six went into the secret room and Mew began to scan the shelves. "Hmm, Elementalist, Elementalist, where did I read that?" she muttered to herself. "Aha!" she said finally, pulling out a book with a worn-down cover. Printed along the spine in golden letters was _The Legend of the Seven Elementalists._ "I think this was it," she said. The group exited the reading room and sat on Mew's bed. Well, in reality, Umbreon and Jolteon sat on Mew's bed; the other three, having no room, were squashed up in Mesprit's cot. Mew pulled up a chair, cleared her voice, and began to read.

* * *

Espeon scowled as she walked down the long hallway from the Pokémon rooms to the main room where she slept. She reeked of unwashed Fearow, Ciar's newest minions with the worst manners she had ever seen. The psychic fox sighed. _They _thought it was _impressive_ that they hadn't showered in three weeks, but Espeon thought that she was going to puke. Deciding that she needed a bath that instant, she made a sharp right turn and entered the bathroom. Espeon filled the tub with warm water and bubble bath and slipped into the baby blue bubbles. "Oh, that reminds me," she told herself, "I need to tell Vaporeon that story." Scrubbing the rest of the Fearow stink off of her, she got out of the bathtub and pulled the plug. Espeon shook herself dry and wiped the soap out of her eyes.

Closing the bathroom door, Espeon continued down the hallway to where Vaporeon was waiting. "Finally!" the blue fox shouted. "How long does it take to get a couple Pokémon ready?"

"You don't want to know," Espeon muttered.

"So, are you going to tell me?" asked Vaporeon.

"Yeah," Espeon replied, "but I've got to tell you another story first so it makes more sense. I think you'll find this one much less boring." Taking a seat in front of Vaporeon's cage, she asked, "Would you like to come out?"

"You can do that?" Vaporeon said, astonished. Espeon nodded and mentally unlocked the cage. The door swung open, and the water fox leapt out.

"You've just got to get back in before Ciar notices." Vaporeon gave Espeon a cute face that said, _But I don't wanna..._ "Don't worry!" Espeon laughed. "That doofus has an attention span of three seconds!" The two Eeveelutions laughed together, then Espeon began her story:

"When I was young, my mother used to tell me this story all the time. It took place long ago, about a thousand years ago, in fact, before Pokémon and humans were friendly with each other. A war was being raged between the humans and the Pokémon, and both sides suffered immense casualties. It was, truly, the first world war. The entire planet was in a frenzy. The humans thought that the Pokémon would destroy their settlements and attack them for food. The Pokémon thought that the humans would enslave them and force them to work their fields and be used for food.

"Now, back then, humans were primitive, and their weapons as well, but most Pokémon were unskilled in using their powers, so both sides were equally armed. And the war raged on.

"The legendaries didn't know what to do. At that time, there were only three legendaries: Mew, the creator, Arceus, her right-hand man, and Rayquaza, her advisor. Although Mew and Arceus still searched for peace, Rayquaza thought that the only way to end this war was to start over. Basically, destroy the universe and then recreate it, with humans and Pokémon living on different planets. The other two were disgusted at such an idea, but as more and more fell on each side, they started to realize that it might be the only way out. Mew decided that if the war did not end in the next ten years (which was like a week to the legendaries), they would proceed with Rayquaza's plan.

"Well, word got out about this decision, but most of the Pokémon were still war-crazed and thought it a trick to make them stop fighting. In fact, only seven believed that it would truly happen, and these seven were what we now call the First Elementalists.

"They were led by an Umbreon called Netra, the Dark Elementalist, who had the ability to learn and call on any move known to Pokémon-kind through a twitch of the ear. Second in command was Liorit, an Espeon and the Light Elementalist, who could locate any other Elementalists by focusing on their chi. Iara, the Water Elementalist, was a Vaporeon who could heal the wounds of other by simply touching them. The Electric Elementalist, known as Hyun Ki, was a Jolteon who could figure out the most difficult puzzles just by remembering a single word. A Leafeon named Samantha, the Earth Elementalist, could hear the other Elementalists when they were in trouble. Chalfon was a Glaceon, the Ice Elementalist, who could change his shape to anything at will. Finally, the youngest member, the Fire Elementalist Amédée, was a Flareon with a unique power; she was able to see into a living being's heart and tell if they were truly good or evil.

"The Elementalists decided to bring about peace and stop Rayquaza from destroying the universe. So Chalfon, disguised as a man, preached peace to the humans, while Hyun Ki and Iara tried to dissuade Pokémon from fighting. But although they succeeded in turning a few to their side, almost all that they met attacked them, calling them 'turn-feathers' and 'traitors'. The war grew worse, but the Elementalists did not give up. More and more people accepted the idea of peace, but the fighting still continued..."

* * *

"When ten years had passed, Mew, Arceus, and Rayquaza looked over the people and the Pokémon. Many had stopped fighting, but many more still hated the other side. They had no choice. Rayquaza flew into space and prepared to end the universe.

"The Elementalists were broken. They had tried to bring the world together, but they had failed. Amédée started crying, and the others tried to consol her. Suddenly, her crying changed to chanting, in a strange voice, and the six other Elementalists began to chant with her. They didn't know the words, yet they still said them confidently:

_Pacis, brethren. Pacis, liberi. Operor retino bellum super take vos iterum._

which translates to:

_Peace, brethren. Peace, children. Do not let war overtake you again._

"At that moment a ball of light appeared, just as Rayquaza was about to destroy the universe. The ball burst and released a flash of light that stretched over the entire creation. It blinded all living creatures. When their sight returned, the people and the Pokémon realized what they were doing was wrong. They put down their weapons, stopped their attacks, and shook hands with each other.

"Rayquaza, stopped in mid-attack, withdrew the beam of energy he was preparing and came back down to Mew and Arceus. Together, they appeared to the Seven Elementalists. Mew approached them and told them this:

"'From now on, you shall be known as the Peacemakers, the Ones Who Saved Creation, the_ Elementalists_. You wield a power that can save and destroy, and so will your future lives, and their future lives. There will be new generations of Elementalists throughout all of time. The universe is in your debt.' Then she and the other legendaries disappeared.

"So now, every time an Elementalist dies, a new Elementalist is born at the same moment. This is how it will continue until the end of time, and the people and Pokémon of Earth can rest assured that if the universe is threatened again, the Elementalists will be there."

Mew closed the book and set it down on her lap. "Kinda boring, don't you think?" she said with a yawn.

"Boring?" shouted Kiki. "That was totally AWESOME!" The others looked at her like she was some kind of freak, but she didn't notice. She was used to it.

"You were in it, Mew," Umbreon pointed out. "Do you remember that when it really happened? If it really happened?"

"Oh, it really happened," said Mew. "I just don't remember me sounding so formal when I talked to the Elementalists. I think it was more like, 'Hey, guys, congrats, you just saved the universe!'" The group burst out in laughter. But not Lucario. He had a much more serious look on his face.

"Guys," he said, "what if Mewtwo thinks that one of us is an Elementalist?" That stopped the laughter.

"Why would he want an Elementalist?" Mew asked them. No one had any suggestions.

"Hold on!" shouted Jolteon. "Maybe _he_ doesn't want an Elementalist, maybe that guy he was _with_ wants an Elementalist! I bet they're working together!"

"Yeah!" agreed Mesprit.

"But who would be stupid enough," the electric fox wondered aloud, "to team up with Mewtwo?" The other five looked at each other and knew in an instant.

"Ciar."

* * *

The story of the Elementalists had left Vaporeon speechless. Espeon said, "I'm going to leave the cage unlocked, just in case you need to get out."

"Wait a second." Vaporeon snapped out of her trance. "What does this have to do with...oh," she uttered with sudden realization. Then she started stuttering. "How the...? How did...? What the heck...? Oh my..."

"Maybe that's a story for another day," Espeon told her.

"Will you tell me tomorrow?" Vaporeon asked. The psychic fox thought a moment.

"Nay, not tomorrow. Some other day, okay?" Vaporeon smirked.

"Only if tomorrow you tell me about how you got that scar," she said. Espeon gently touched the scar under her right eye. _This one knows how to play,_ she thought. Then she grinned.

"Maybe I will," she said, exiting the room. She winked. "Maybe I won't."

* * *

There you have it!

Please R&R, okie-day?

So until the next update, chow! (chases after Umbreon)

-Umbreon Mastah, the insane fanfiction writer who talks to her characters


	5. Pains and Gains

Umbreon: Well, Umbreon Mastah's finally back from the dead.

SHUT UP! Anyway, yeah, sorry about the really long wait. School's really time consuming. It's a really long chapter, though, so I hope that it was worth it!

Disclaimer: Nothing Nintendo is mine-o. So sad-o.

Um...you can start reading now.

* * *

Eevee yawned and stretched her legs. Smacking her lips, she sat up and looked out the window at the rising sun. _Should I ask today?_ she wondered, as she did every morning. _Nah, _she answered herself, also as she did every morning, _maybe tomorrow. _The little fox sighed. Then she jumped as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. _Who else is up this early?_ she thought. Quietly peaking into the living room, she saw a yellow fox walk down from upstairs. He looked wide awake. "Jolteon?" she accidentally said aloud. Eevee quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late. Jolteon had already noticed her.

"What's up, Eevee?" he called.

"Nothing," she lied. The electric fox looked at her cynically.

"Sure," he said in a sarcastic tone. Eevee sighed. The two had become great friends since they'd met the day before, and he could read her like a book. Jolteon smirked at her, a look of triumph on his face. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering...," she trailed off.

"Just wondering what?" Jolteon asked.

"If...if Umbreon wanted to be my mentor!" she spilled out. "EEP!" she squealed, covering her mouth again.

"Why haven't you asked her?" he asked, sitting down beside the small fox.

"Because...because..." Eevee remembered her futile attempts to see Aura, her weak attacks that barely left a scratch on Infernape's martial arts dummy. She remembered being exhausted, not being able to move after only an hour of training. "...I don't think I'm strong enough." Jolteon laughed.

"Not strong enough? Ha, that's a good one!" Eevee smiled. "I'm sure she'll let you be her apprentice," he reassured her.

"I guess," she said, not very confidently, "but how am I going to ask her?"

"Well...," started Jolteon, but he stopped and said, "I don't think you'll have a problem with that!" He pointed to the stairs. Umbreon, smiling, was at the top. She had heard every word.

"Oh crud," Eevee whispered as she ducked under a couch pillow.

Walking down the stairs, Umbreon said, "Jolteon here woke me up with his Super Smash Bros. playing." The electric fox grinned sheepishly. "(cough)addict(cough)," she muttered.

"Hey!" Jolteon pouted.

"But anyway," continued the black fox, "I've got to think..." Eevee poked her head out and sighed. There was no way Umbreon was going to accept her as an apprentice. Umbreon noticed the sigh and said, "I've got to think about if we're going to start training after breakfast or lunch."

The little brown fox could not believe her ears. "W-what?" she asked. Umbreon grinned.

"You heard me." Eevee leapt for joy.

"Really? You mean it? Can we start now? Please?" The questions rushed out of her mouth until they were interrupted by a large grumbling. Eevee looked down at her stomach shamefacedly. "On second thought," she said, "maybe we _should_ wait until after breakfast." The three fox Pokémon laughed.

* * *

Espeon looked at the map of Elementalists laying before her in her mind. _Boy,_ she thought, _these Elementalists sure like getting together._ She sighed and opened her eyes again. Instead of leading Ciar to one Elementalist, she was leading him to three. This was going to complicate things. "Hey, Espeon!" Vaporeon called. The psychic fox turned her head. "You said you were going to tell me how you got your scar today!" 

"I said maybe!" she replied, walking up to the water Pokémon. "But I have a feeling you're going to keep bothering me until I do." Vaporeon nodded her head up and down excitedly. "Alright," Espeon said, "but you can't tell anyone, okay?"

"Got it!" she said. Espeon took a deep breath, then began.

"A few years ago, I was out in the field helping Pokémon out of a forest fire. You see, I'm actually part of a network of Pokémon called the P.O.P.W."

"P.O.P.W.?" asked Vaporeon.

"Promoters of Pokémon Welfare. That's why I'm here. But that's not part of the story." Vaporeon looked confused, but said nothing more. "Anyway, the fire had caused some of the Pokémon to panic and lose control of themselves. They attacked us. We couldn't hurt them because it wasn't their fault, so we had to use defensive tactics. But there were too many of them. Our water Pokémon were too busy defending themselves to put out the fire. Flying Pokémon grabbed others and brought them to safety, but soon the flames were too high for any aerial action. That's when they sent us in." Espeon paused. Vaporeon looked at her intently. Sighing, the psychic fox started again. "My partner was a Kadabra. His name was Marcello. Even though he was still young, he was one of the most experienced Pokémon in the P.O.P.W. He and I were the emergency team. We were called in to stop a group of panic-stricken Scyther from trapping themselves inside of the woods." She sighed again. "We had done more dangerous things. But this time was different. After calming most of the Scyther down, there were only two left. These two were particularly fierce. I had taken the older one while Marcello struggled with the other. The battle was fierce, so fierce that I had to take an offensive stand. Suddenly, the Scyther lunged out and swiped under my eye. I screamed." Tears started to appear in Espeon's eyes as she gently touched her scar. "I wish that I hadn't. Marcello turned to help me, and then..." The psychic Pokémon tried not to cry. "...the Scyther he was fighting...struck him down." Vaporeon gasped.

"W-was he...?" Espeon nodded somberly.

"He was gone." The words hung in the air. It was silent for a while. Espeon let out a deep breath. "After that mission," she said at last, "I resigned from the emergency team. I started working in the undercover agency instead. And that's how I got here." Vaporeon placed a paw on the psychic fox's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Espeon smiled wanly, tears streaming down her face. Neither one of them noticed the shadowy figure, who had been standing behind one of the walls, walk away.

* * *

"So we have a traitor in our midst," Mewtwo said to himself. He grinned. _This _was big news. The Tracker wouldn't know what hit her. The catlike Pokémon snickered. He imagined how proud Ciar would be that the entire operation was saved thanks to him. "What is that worth?" he thought aloud. "Seventy pounds of chocolate?" Mewtwo licked his lips. "For an operation this big? Maybe even a hundred pounds!" A vision popped into his head of him surrounded by chocolate bars. "Now I'm hungry." He started for Ciar's "office" when another vision appeared. 

_It was that Espeon, crying for her friend._ Mewtwo stopped cold. _She stared at his deformed figure, covered in blood. _He was seeing the part of the story that she didn't tell! _"Espeon," he said with the last of his remaining strength, "I...l...," but he couldn't finish. His head slumped to the ground. "Marcello!" the psychic fox cried. "No," she said to herself. She lifted her head, eyes full of rage. "No!" She lunged at her friend's killer, knocking him into a tree. She slammed her head against his, blood dripping from both of their mouths. The Scyther was knocked out immediately. The Espeon turned her head toward the other one. She snarled and charged. This one, too, fell almost instantly. The Espeon's anger boiled down. Rage turned to tears as she dropped her head and wept. "Marcello," she whispered. _The vision disappeared.

Mewtwo felt a pain in his chest. Shaking away the feeling, he told himself, "That chocolate can wait another day. It gives you zits anyway." He changed directions and headed toward his room. And that entire day he wondered what that pain in his chest was.

* * *

"To the left!" Umbreon shouted. Eevee quickly nodded and jumped out of the way of Jolteon's Thunderbolt. Then she charged at the electric fox with a powerful Tackle. It knocked him off his feet. 

"Ouch..." Jolteon hoisted himself up. "Great job, Eevee. You're getting really good." He rubbed his sore side. "Just one question though."

"Yes?" asked Eevee as she sat beside Umbreon.

"How come _I'm _always the one you've got to beat up?" he whined. The entire group laughed. Lucario walked up to Jolteon and patted him on the back, knocking the wind out of him.

"You should have seen how many times my ears were deep-fried, Aura Sphere style, while I was training Umbreon!" Jolteon grinned. Eevee had trained the entire day yesterday, and she woke Umbreon up early this morning to train some more.

Kiki clapped heartily. "You're doing awesome Eevee!" she congratulated. Eevee smiled.

"What's next?" she asked Umbreon anxiously. The black fox shrugged.

"How about breakfast? I'm kind of hungry..." Suddenly, a pink ball of fluff dashed through the group, messing up Umbreon's fur. "If that's who I think it is...," she scowled.

"Mew!" The five turned to see Mesprit trying to catch up with the hyperactive Pokémon. "Mew, come back! That's not going to help!" He sighed and slumped to the ground. The others walked up to him. "I've been chasing her for an hour," he said. "Today's the day, well, you know." They knew all right.

"Is she sure that he's coming?" Lucario asked. Mesprit nodded.

"She's gone berserk," he stated. "And the strange thing is, she cleaned the entire place while I was asleep."

"How do you know?" asked Kiki.

"I left a piece of pizza that I was saving for today under the bed. Gone." Mew flew past them again, this time headed back for the Tree.

"I think we should follow her," said Eevee. The others agreed and trekked to the Tree. When they arrived, the door was wide open. The air was still. Too still.

Finally, Umbreon couldn't take it anymore. "Mew, get your pink furry butt out here _right now_!" she screamed. The small psychic Pokémon's head poked out from behind the open door.

"Oh, hey guys," she said sheepishly. Umbreon glared at her. "Oh boy," she muttered.

"Mew, just _what_ are you doing?" the dark fox questioned.

"Uh...panicking?" Umbreon rolled her eyes.

"Mew, just calm down," Lucario told the little pink Pokémon. "It's not the end of the world."

"Of course it's the end of the world! He's the Ruler of _Chaos_, for Pete's sake!" Mew dashed inside.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Lucario said as the others sweatdropped. They entered the house and closed the door behind them.

"It can't be _that _bad, can it?" Eevee asked as she sat down next to Mew, who was in a fetal position on the bed. She had broken out in a cold sweat and shaking back and forth madly.

"Talk about mood swings," Kiki muttered. Lucario and Umbreon both hit her on the head at the same time. "I mean, I guess it _is_ that bad."

* * *

The Tree of Beginning was in their sights. 

Ciar smirked. The Dark Elementalist would be his in no time. "Fleabag!" he called.

"Yes, sir?" Espeon answered, her face a pale green from motion sickness.

"How much longer until we reach the Tree?"

"No longer than five minutes, sir."

"Good." Ciar snickered. "Are you ready, Mewtwo?" he asked the catlike Pokémon floating beside him.

"As I'll ever be," was the reply.

"Very well. Scum pile!" he shouted.

"Yes, sir?" the psychic fox replied weakly.

"Make sure that my Pokémon are ready in case we need backup."

"Yes, sir." Espeon went downstairs, holding her stomach and telling herself that the next time Ciar called her a disgusting name, she'd puke all over him.

* * *

Kiki, Lucario, Umbreon, Mew, Jolteon, and Mesprit dragged Mew out into the untamed part of the Tree of Beginning. "Guys, what are you doing?" she complained loudly. "Put me down!" 

"Alright!" said Kiki happily, dropping Mew into a small pond. The kitten Pokémon resurfaced and shook out her fur, looking aggravated.

"What was _that_ for?"

"So you'd stop panicking!" said Kiki. "And look! It worked!"

"You're darn right it worked," Mew scowled, clenching her fists. She grabbed a fallen branch from a nearby tree and started chasing the brunette around the pond. The others laughed heartily.

"YIKES! Hey guys! A little help here!" Kiki shouted.

Chuckling, Umbreon called, "I think you've got your point across, Mew! You can st..." The black fox was met with a bonk on the head. "Alright," she said, glaring at the weapon-yielding Mew, "this means war." She leapt at the little pink Pokémon and knocked her to the ground, the branching flying out of her hand. It landed on Jolteon's toe; the electric fox yelped and bumped into Mesprit, who in turn crashed into Lucario, who, trying to steady himself, accidentally pushed Eevee into the pond. The whole group was a tangled mess, save for Kiki, who was laughing at the sight of them.

"Imbeciles," she chuckled to herself. She walked toward the clutter of Pokémon, smirking, unaware that Eevee had stuck her paw out of the water. The brunette tripped and landed on her face. She lifted her head up, her mouth full of grass. Everyone couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles.

Suddenly, a loud explosion cut the happy moment short. The seven friends looked around to see what the cause was. Suddenly, Umbreon was lifted up into the air. "Hey Umbreon, I didn't know you could fly!" Kiki called. The dark fox looked at her paw, a faint purple aura surrounding it.

"But I'm not flying, I'm..." Then, out of the blue, she was thrust toward the ground. She hit the floor hard. Blood dripped out of her mouth.

"Umbreon!" Lucario cried. Umbreon was hoisted up into the air again. She let out a piercing scream.

"HELP ME!"

Somewhere, hundreds of miles away from the Tree of Beginning, Anisa the Leafeon woke with a start.

* * *

...Adadum... 

Okay, peoples, there it is! The next chapter won't take so long, I promise. And it it does, I'll eat the piece of pizza Mesprit left under the bed:)

R&R please!

-Umbreon Mastah


	6. Battles

Here it is, the really long chapter! The big battle(s), yay! And do I smell a trace of...romance? O.o

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

* * *

"Rin!" cried Anisa. "Rin, it happened again!" Rin yawned.

"Anisa," said the Glaceon, "I was in the middle of a nap!"

"Well so was I!" the Leafeon shouted. "But the voices don't care!" Rin rolled her eyes.

"I've told you before, you're just having nightmares." She walked over to her sister and put a paw on her leafy shoulder. "It's nothing to worry about." Anisa shook her head.

"But I don't _see_ anything! I just hear it, and it sounds real!" she said. Rin sighed.

"Anisa..."

"Don't 'Anisa' me! I _know _that something's wrong, okay? I just need to find out what! I mean, if..." Rin laid her head in her paws. She hated it when Anisa rambled, especially about the voices. The voices that had taunted her little sister since the day she was born.

Of course, Rin had never _heard_ the voices herself. When Anisa was little, her family considered the voices a small joke, a stunt to get attention. But now that she was a teenager, Rin wasn't so sure that it was all a gag. Then again, Anisa _was_ a weird one.

"Anisa," the Glaceon interrupted, "don't you think that you're overreacting a little bit?"

"No!" she yelled. "Someone's in trouble, and I feel like I'm the only one who..." Suddenly, Anisa stopped and clutched her head.

"Anisa!" shouted Rin. The Leafeon fell to the floor, holding her head in anguish.

"Sis," she said wanly, "help me."

* * *

"HELP!" Umbreon cried as she hit a tree. Below her, the others panicked. Eevee was freaking out, Jolteon was babbling like an idiot, Lucario was randomly flinging Aura Spheres in every direction, Kiki was screaming, and Mesprit was running around in circles. But not Mew. Mew just sat there, quiet, her mouth ajar. 

He was here.

She cringed as Umbreon crashed into the floor again. Questions flooded into her mind. How had he grown so powerful? Why was he here? Why attack Umbreon, who had an advantage over him? _Maybe not a big advantage,_ she thought as Umbreon was flung into another tree, _but still..._ Then a single thought blocked out all the others.

_It must stop._

Mew looked at her panicking friends. She knew that _they_ weren't going to do anything helpful. Then again, what could _she_ do? She couldn't hurt him...much as she tried, she couldn't. She couldn't _distract_ him; Mewtwo was way too focused to be distracted. Mew sighed. If only he had been someone else..._but no, he isn't, _thought Mew with sudden realization. _He's my son, and I can't do anything about that._ She clenched her fist. _But that doesn't mean I can't fight him._ With that thought, Mew charged. She shot off like a bullet toward the huge cloud of smoke veiling their attacker. "STOP!" she screamed.

Mewtwo knew that voice. He dropped the Elementalist with a thud and quickly put all his energy into making a Psychic barrier around himself. He braced himself.

CRASH!

Mewtwo was flung backwards, thanks to the force of the impact. The pink blur that had hit him flew back, too. Recovering quickly, the cat-like Pokémon rose to his feet. The blur also got up, scowling.

"Mewtwo."

"Mother."

There was a silence as Mewtwo looked at Mew. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. She was panting heavily and her tail drooped. Her angry expression softened as she got a better look at her son. Finally, she spoke.

"Why?"

Mewtwo was surprised. He had been expecting, "Drop dead," or, "I hate you," but not, "Why?" He stayed silent.

"Why?" Mew said again. "Why are you doing this?" No response. "Mewtwo," she said, softly this time.

"That's for me to know," he shouted angrily, "and you not to find out!" He began charging a Shadow Ball. Mew did nothing.

"Mewtwo, please..."

"Be quiet!" Mewtwo released his Shadow Ball and sent it flying toward his mother. She sidestepped and let it crash into a tree.

"Stop this, Mewtwo," she said quietly. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Mewtwo laughed. "You wouldn't be able to lay a finger on me even if you tried!" He tried not to let her see the bruises from her previous attack.

"Mewtwo, you know that this is wrong!"

"Enough talking!" he shouted. "You and I both knew that this day would come! So why deny it?"

"No!" yelled Mew. "I'm not going to fight you!"

"You're not going to have a choice, _Mother,_" Mewtwo snarled. He had no regrets.

...or did he? Mewtwo looked at his mother again. _Those red eyes._ He tried not to make eye contact, but he couldn't help it. _Had they been crying...for him?_

"Alright then, Mewtwo," she said, broken. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" he laughed. "For what, being so pathetic?"

"No," she muttered, "for _THIS!_" Creating a huge pink ball of light, she shot it at Mewtwo, and it hit him hard in the stomach. He coughed up blood.

"That's it," he growled. "This ends _now._"

* * *

"Anisa, are you alright?" cried Rin. The Leafeon pulled herself up and rubbed her head. 

"Yeah," she said. "The voices stopped. But there were so many..."

"It's okay, Anisa," her sister said lovingly.

"But it's not!" Anisa replied. "Those people, they were...so scared...it was too much." Rin gave her sister a hug.

"Well, if the voices have stopped, it means they're okay, right?"

"Or dead," said Anisa somberly. Rin slapped her head.

"You're being really optimistic about this," the Glaceon muttered. Anisa cracked a small smile.

"I think we should try to help them," she said.

"WHAT?"

"Well, yeah. I feel like it's my problem now," said the Leafeon brightly.

"Do you even know where they are?" retorted Rin. Anisa's smile faded.

"Oh, I forgot about that part."

"Look," Rin said, "I'm sure that whoever _they_ are, they're fine, okay?" Her younger sister nodded. "Good. Now let's go back to bed."

"Okay. Goodnight, sis."

"Goodnight, Anisa."

* * *

Anisa couldn't sleep at all. She knew that this was the only time that she had to rest; the two sisters traveled by night. But the voices were haunting her. She had heard them before; many times, in fact, but this time was different. It was like...she needed to be there. Like those people she heard needed her. 

Maybe Rin was right. Maybe she _was_ overreacting. She had been that way since their mother and father died. Maybe she felt like she couldn't let anyone else's life be lost. The more she thought about it, the truer it seemed.

Anisa was jeered out of her thoughts by another round of voices. "Oh shut up already," she muttered. "It's not like _I _can help you." Sighing, she tried to ignore the voices and go to bed. But she couldn't. It was like the voices were calling to her, telling her to come to them, to help them.

And, oh, how she wanted to help them.

* * *

"Umbreon, are you okay?" Umbreon lifted her head up weakly. 

"Ouch," she said. Lucario quickly rushed over to help her up.

"That looks like it hurts," said Kiki.

"You think?" asked Umbreon. She wiped some blood off of her mouth. Eevee walked up to her.

"You're going to be okay, right?" she asked anxiously. The dark fox tried moving her legs.

"No broken bones," she reported. "Hey, where's Mew?"

"She's right over...where'd she go?" Mesprit looked around the field. "Mew?" he called. "Where are you?" Soon the entire group was repeatedly calling Mew's name.

"Um, guys," said Eevee. They looked at her. "Look that-a-way." The cloud of smoke had cleared, revealing Mew and Mewtwo throwing attacks at each other. The others gasped.

"We've got to help her!" shouted Jolteon. _And I've got to kill that cretin,_ he added mentally.

"No," Lucario said, "this is her battle. We can't fight it for her." Everyone looked at him.

"Did you just say something wise?" Kiki asked. Lucario sweatdropped. There was silence for a while as the six watched the brawl, unsure of what to do.

* * *

Mew scowled. "You've gotten stronger, Mewtwo," she said. "I must say I'm impressed." She dodged another Shadow Ball. 

"The same to you, Mother," said Mewtwo with a smirk. Blood dripped down from both of their faces. Mew had lost some of the fur at the top of her ears; Mewtwo was limping slightly on his right leg. "To be frank, I didn't think that it would last this long. I thought that I'd be done with you in less than a minute."

"You never were good at math," said Mew mockingly. She thrust a ball of light in his direction. He teleported behind her and shot purple lightning at her from the sky. Quickly, she formed a pink bubble that shielded her from the attack.

"Clever," Mewtwo said through his teeth. The lightning stopped and he charged at her. Mew teleported out of the way just in time, making Mewtwo lose his balance and fall on his bad leg.

"Thank you," she said, forming another ball of light. She directed it at her fallen son, who teleported a safe distance away.

"It's going to take more than that to beat me," he said, panting.

"Really? Prove it." Mewtwo was going to answer, throw some quirky little remark just to annoy her while he thought of a plan, when he realized what he should do. He struggled to get up, but fell back down again, collapsing. Mew stopped.

"Mewtwo?" she said. He made no movement. Was he alive? She didn't mean to _kill_ him! Cautiously, she floated up to his limp body. "Are you...?" She didn't get to finish. Mewtwo quickly teleported behind her, delivering a Shadow Ball directly to the back of her head. Mew fell to the ground.

"And now to finish it," he said, smirking. He charged a final Shadow Ball.

* * *

"Can we help _now?_" asked Jolteon. Lucario nodded, and he, Mesprit, Jolteon, and Eevee jumped into the fray. 

"Hey Eevee!" Umbreon called. The little fox turned around. "Give him a hit for me, kay?"

"You got it!" she shouted.

"I've got first dibs," said Mesprit. "This guy's mine." He closed his eyes and focused on the ground. Vines appeared below Mewtwo's feet and tangled him, causing him to let go off the Shadow Ball.

"What the heck?" he shouted, looking down at the plants surrounding his feet. He glanced up. "So Mew had reinforcements this whole time," he said to himself. "Should be a nice workout."

"Hey, I resent that!" Eevee yelled.

"Eevee!" said Lucario.

"Yeah?"

"Get Mew!" The brown fox nodded. "Jolteon, you and Mesprit attack from the front. I've got the back."

"Got it!" the electric fox said. _Time to kick some psychic butt._

"Roger!" replied Mesprit with a mock salute. Mewtwo destroyed the vines with a Psychic attack and got ready to fight.

"Three against one," he said. "Hardly a fair fight." The cat-like Pokémon charged two Shadow Balls, one in each hand. "For you, that is."

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" shouted Jolteon. He smirked. "C'mon Mesprit," he said. "Let's show this creep what real power is!" The two of them charged from different angles. Mewtwo shot his Shadow Balls at them, but the two dodged and kept moving. Jolteon aimed a Thunderbolt at Mewtwo's head. The psychic Pokémon easily reflected it, but Mesprit hit him with a Headbutt before he had time to react. Obviously aggravated, Mewtwo sent Mesprit flying into a tree with a burst of psychic energy. He then turned around and did the same to Jolteon.

"Idiots. Did you think you could take on me?" he said with a smirk, grabbing Lucario's leg as he tried to come in with a kick. He tossed the fighting Pokémon across the field. "Now, where was I?" Mewtwo turned to where he had left Mew. Eevee was frantically trying to get the pink Pokémon onto her back.

"Oh crud," she said as she met Mewtwo's eyes. He tossed her aside with a psychic blast, then aimed a Shadow Ball at Mew. "Hey, you're not getting her that easy!" Eevee shouted as she tackled Mewtwo to the ground. She dashed over to Mew. "Wake up!" she said. "Please!"

"You're a bold one," said Mewtwo smugly as he got up from the ground. "However, you should have just minded your own business."

"This _is_ my business, you creep!" Eevee got herself in a position to charge again. Before she had time to react, though, Mewtwo lifted her up into the air and sent her soaring into the pond. She hit the bottom. There were a few bubbles at the surface, but they soon stopped.

"Eevee!" cried Kiki. Mewtwo laughed.

"Such a waste. She would have been a good fighter, too." Suddenly, the pond burst into a brilliant red light.

"What's going on?" asked Umbreon, bewildered. There was a huge splash as a four-legged figure appeared from the water.

"Eevee?" Kiki asked. The creature's red fur glowed brilliantly in the sun as her yellow mane billowed with the wind. She landed gracefully on her feet and looked at the brunette.

"Yep!" she said brightly. "You thought that I was dead back there, didn't you? Well I thought I was, too!"

"Eevee, look at your fur," said Kiki quietly.

"Um...okay," she said as she lifted her paw. "I don't see why...OH MY GOD IT'S RED!"

"You evolved!" shouted Umbreon joyously.

"I did?" said Eevee, or should I say Flareon, feeling her furry yellow tail. "I did!"

"Um, hate to break up the happy moment here, but..." Kiki pointed toward Mewtwo, who had shaken away his confusion and begun to deal the final blow.

"Oh no, you don't!" Flareon shouted, knocking Mewtwo backward with more force than she'd meant to. "Whoops, did I do that?" Mewtwo rose to his feet and scowled.

"I'm still going to beat you," he said.

"I doubt that," she retorted. The two charged at each other.

"Oh, I can't watch!" shrieked Kiki.

"Shh, it's getting to the good part," Umbreon scolded. Flareon used Flamethrower to slow down Mewtwo, but he used a shield of psychic energy to push it away, then tossed a Shadow Ball at her. She spat embers on it to turn it into a fireball, then Flamethrower-ed it back at the psychic Pokémon. It hit him like a ton of bricks, and he fell to the ground. The fire fox leapt on top of him and smirked.

"Am I too tough for you?" Mewtwo scowled. His purple eyes met her black ones, and his scowl disappeared. Flareon looked at him intently, and then gasped at what she saw.

She could see...his heart...

It was a bright red, with a crystal center. The heart looked like a jewel, but with a pulse, beating in and out. It seemed to teem with goodness, with joy, with...love.

Realizing that he had an opening, Mewtwo teleported out of the Tree. Flareon hit the ground and rubbed her head. "Yowch," she said.

"What were you doing?" shouted Umbreon. "You could have killed him right there and then!"

"I...I couldn't..."

"Why not?" Kiki asked. "He's a monster!"

"No!" Flareon exclaimed. "I _can't_ kill him! He's not evil!"

* * *

Ooooooooooo... 

Sorry if the battles stank.

Umbreon: They did.

GET OUT! But anyway, please R&R!

-Umbreon Mastah


	7. Thinking

Hey, peoples! I'm back! (checks last update) OMG I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN LIKE A MONTH!!!!!!!!

Umbreon: Umbreon Mastah's back from the dead again.

Sorry about that... . Anyway...the chapter is hopefully okay...the good stuff _really_ begins next chapter. Ooooo...love is in the air!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the fic and the plot.

* * *

Mewtwo found himself in a large field. He rubbed his head and sat up. "Ciar's not going to be happy about this," he said to himself. Running his hand through the soft grass, Mewtwo sighed. Ciar probably wouldn't be as mad if he had lost to Mew, or to Lucario, but _no,_ he had to go and lose to some brat.

Some _cute_ brat.

The cat-like Pokémon shook the thought out of his head. She wasn't _cute._ She was an enemy, and like all enemies she would have to be taken out of the picture.

_She spared your life._

"Shut up," he said aloud. That didn't mean that he had to do the same for her! "Only good guys show that kind of respect," he muttered. Mewtwo pulled himself up. He was going to have to go back eventually. Focusing his little remaining energy, he started to teleport. His last thought was that the next time he saw that Flareon, he wouldn't hold back.

_Even if she was cute._

Then he disappeared.

* * *

Flareon sat outside of Kiki's house, head in her paws. Finally, she had some alone time. The others had been pestering her about everything that happened in the Tree for over an hour when she escaped. She laughed to herself. They were probably still in there, talking to the bunch of pillows she had pulled under a blanket on her bed. Flareon was still snickering when something tickled her nose. "Aaa...aaa...aaa...aa-choo!" she sneezed. Embers burst out of her mouth and set some of the grass on fire. "Whoops," the fire fox said, patting out the flames with her tail. She sighed. Evolution was going to take some getting used to. 

Her thoughts drifted to the episode at the Tree, which she now referred to as _It._That was what everyone else was calling it. "You could have won It!" or "Why didn't you beat It?" or "It could have been over!" She rolled over onto her back. _It_ wasn't something she was very happy talking about. Sure, she _could_ have killed Mewtwo, but what would that make _her_? A murderer, that's what. And she really didn't want to be that. Flareon couldn't understand why her friends were angry at her for _not_ becoming that.

And besides that, there was the matter of...the heart. She could picture it clearly even now. A living ruby, that's how she'd describe it. Beautiful, soft, gentle...no, this heart couldn't belong to someone evil. _But then,_ she thought to herself,_ why would Mewtwo's heart be a heart of goodness when he had done so many bad things?_

_Mewtwo._

Why did thinking about him now bring butterflies to her stomach? Flareon remembered looking at his eyes. _What a brilliant purple,_ she thought. _They're a beautiful color. _She mentally kicked herself. If she kept thinking like that, people might start believing that she...

"No," Flareon said aloud. "That's impossible." Her stomach growled. "Lunch time!" she shouted to no one in particular. She tried not to finish her thought, but as she walked to the kitchen, it popped back into her mind.

_Could she have a crush on Mewtwo?_

* * *

Vaporeon took her two cards from Espeon and looked at them. _Yes!_ She thought._ Pocket aces! _She put on her best poker face and waited. Espeon, on the other side of the card table that they were playing on, looked the water fox in the eyes and said, "I fold." 

"Hey!" shouted Vaporeon. "You read my mind, didn't you?" Espeon smirked.

"Maybe I did," she said, "maybe I didn't."

"Hmph." Vaporeon put her aces under the deck and crossed her arms. "Cheater."

"It's not cheating," said Espeon defensively. "It's creative thinking." Vaporeon opened her mouth to say something rude and most likely not to be repeated when she noticed Mewtwo float by solemnly out of the corner of her eye. Much as she disliked him, she was concerned.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, taking another two cards. The psychic fox shrugged.

"How should I know?" Espeon thought a minute. "Due to the lack of Dark Elementalist here, though," she concluded, "I'd say he lost. Bad."

"Should we do something?" Espeon laughed.

"Heck no!" Vaporeon smacked her head. She shouldn't have asked. Sighing, she looked at her cards. _Dang it,_ she thought. _Jack seven!_ Espeon looked at her. "All in," she said smartly, placing her large pile of chips next to Vaporeon's much smaller one. "Put down your cards." Vaporeon did, showing the king and ten of spades to match the ace, queen, and jack that were on the table. Espeon's mouth fell open. The water fox smirked.

"Looks like I just out-wised the wise guy, huh?"

* * *

Rin awoke to the sound of muffled movement outside the cave. Her head shot up and her ears twitched. She sniffed the air. There was an unfamiliar scent, and the Glaceon couldn't tell yet if it was friend or foe. She glanced over at her sleeping sister. "Anisa!" she whispered anxiously. "Anisa, wake up!" 

"Huh? What?" The Leafeon smacked her lips and rubbed her eyes. "Can't I have five more minutes?" Rin sighed.

"Anisa, this is serious!"

"I know!" Anisa retorted sleepily. "I'm _seriously_ tired!"

"Haha," said Rin sarcastically. "Really, though, something's wrong." She paused for a second. "Listen," she said quietly. There were more rustles from outside. Anisa blinked.

"What was that?" she asked. Rin shook her head.

"I've got no idea."

"Do we really want to find out?" The ice fox thought a moment.

"Do we really have a choice?" she said. Anisa sighed. "I'll check," her sister told her. She nodded. It was always Rin who checked. _I'd probably mistake a bush for a Skarmory,_ she thought to herself with a slight smile. She was jutted out of her thoughts by sudden scream.

"Rin!" she cried. She dashed outside into the evening sun. There was her sister, cornered by a vicious-looking Houndoom. Foam dripped from his mouth. Rin saw Anisa out of the corner of her eye.

"Look out!" she shouted. Anisa jumped to the side and narrowly dodged a Flamethrower from another Houndoom. Thinking quickly, she shot a Razor Leaf toward the fire dog trapping Rin. The ice fox froze the leaves, and they hit the Houndoom hard. She took the opportunity to get out of there.

"Rin, there's more of them!" Anisa yelled. The two stood back-to-back and watched in horror as an entire Houndoom pack surrounded them. "What do we do?" The dogs started to close in. Rin panicked. For the first time in her life, she didn't have a plan. She was stumped. Anisa looked at her older sister expectantly. "Well?"

Rin shrugged. "We're sunk." Anisa laughed.

"That's real funny, Rin." The Glaceon shook her head, and then Anisa knew that it wasn't a joke. "We can't give up yet!" she shouted in dismay.

"I'm sorry, Ani," sighed the ice fox. The Houndoom got closer. Panicking, Anisa flung Razor Leaves in every direction, but they didn't seem to falter the fire dogs.

"Rin, snap out of it!" she screamed, but Rin didn't hear her. They couldn't escape. She held Anisa's paw tightly. A tear dripped down her face. She closed her eyes. _If only I could fly..._

Rin heard Anisa shout. She felt her stomach drop. Opening her eyes, she saw the circle of Houndoom getting smaller and smaller. Rin wondered how this was possible until she bumped her head into something fluffy and soft. A cloud? But that could only mean that...

_...they were flying!_

"Rin! Rin, look at you!" Anisa's voice dragged Rin out of her thoughts. She looked down at her younger sister, who was hanging on to a tan talon.

_Wait, a tan talon?_

Rin tried to move her legs. She saw the talons move. "Hey!" yelled Anisa. "Watch it!"

"Oh my..." Rin stop talking when she realized that whenever her mouth closed it made a clicking sound. Did she have a beak? She looked at herself. Brown and yellow feathers? A red tail? Wings?

"Oh my god, Rin, you're a Pidgeot!" cried the Leafeon with glee. "You're flying!"

"Flying?" Rin started to panic. She didn't know how to fly! Yet they were still airborne...her wings were moving involuntarily. What did this mean?

"Land by that tree, Rin!" laughed Anisa. _She _didn't seem very perturbed by the idea that a few minutes ago, her sister had been a Glaceon.

"How?" asked Rin. Anisa shrugged.

"Stop flapping!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Maybe." Rin sighed. She spread her wings out and tried to stop flapping. Surprisingly, she started to glide slowly down to earth.

"It's working!" she exclaimed. The two sisters neared the ground.

"Now flap a little to slow down!" Anisa shouted. Rin nodded her head and started to flap. They landed smoothly (well, almost smoothly) in the middle of a field. "Next time, try not to crush me," said the Leafeon. Rin rolled her eyes. "You can turn back into a Glaceon now," Anisa told her.

Rin's face went sour. Turn back? "Um..."

"You can't turn back?"

"I don't know how." Anisa looked at her thoughtfully.

"Well, look on the bright side," she said. "Being a bird sister is better than being a dead sister." Rin slapped her head with her wing.

"I don't _want _to be a bird sister!" she exclaimed. "Birds can't breathe ice, or hold things, or even _walk_ right, for Pete's sake!" She continued to rant, not noticing the blue lights surrounding her.

"Um, Rin?" said Anisa.

"...or talk without a clinking sound, or have blue fur, or eat proper food, or..."

"Rin?" she said again.

"...or wag their tails, or scratch their ears...they don't even _have _ears!...or..."

"RIN!" she screamed.

"What?" said Rin.

"You're you again!" Rin held her arm up to her face and saw that it was blue again. She felt her ears and moved her legs.

"Oh," she said. "So I am."

* * *

Jolteon was thinking. He sat on a chair in Kiki's living room, keeping an eye on a sleeping Mew. There wasn't much to watch, so he let his mind wander. 

It stopped on the thought of Vaporeon. Where was she right now? In some dark and muggy place? The electric fox sighed. Oh, how he loathed Mewtwo! He still fumed at the thought that that monster had slipped right between his fingers...um, paws. Mewtwo would have been dead right now if it weren't for Flareon!

Jolteon tried to calm himself down. Forgive and forget, that's what he had to do. It was probably a mind trick anyway; Flareon had been duped, that's it! There was no heart, just a little trick of the light. And if it wasn't, well, Flareon had gone crazy! Hearts don't just float in the air! Jolteon laughed to himself. Floating hearts, what a crazy idea.

_Amédée._

Wait, what? Jolteon looked back and forth. "Who said that?" he asked. There was no answer.

_Amédée._

There it was again! Where had he heard that name before? "Amédée, Amédée," he muttered to himself. Then a light bulb clicked. Amédée was an Elementalist! "Ha! Score one for the Jolteon!" the electric fox shouted. He started doing a cheesy little dance. That is, until he remembered what Amédée's power was.

"Wait a second...what if Umbreon wasn't the Elementalist Mewtwo was looking for? What if it was..." He stopped short. "...Flareon?" _Uh oh._ "Guys!" he called out, running to the kitchen where everyone else was sitting, eating dinner.

This was bad.

* * *

Uh oh... 

Next chapter will be better, I swear...if it's not, I'll eat Kiki's Poffins of Death (remember those? oh yeah...)

See ya soon!

-Umbreon Mastah


	8. Not Good

Well hi everybody! I guess it's been a while since I updated, I know, but...(looks at calender)

HOLY PAJAMAS I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, maybe I'm in a bit of a slump...whoops...

Sorry to keep you peoples waiting. The chapter's okay, I think, but I usually do better. Like I said, blame the slump...

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

What are you waiting for? Read before I feel any worse!

* * *

"Now try Pikachu!"

Rin nodded. She focused on the yellow fur, the jagged tail, the electricity. _Poof!_ In front of Anisa stood an electric mouse.

"Awesome!" she shouted, clapping happily. Her older sister smiled a Pikachu smile and transformed back into her normal self. Bowing slightly, she sat down beside the Leafeon. "I wish I could do that," Anisa muttered. Rin laughed good-naturedly. She and Anisa had done quite a lot of training together since they had discovered the Glaceon's astounding new power. "Okay," said the Leafeon, "blow fire now!"

"What do I turn into?"

"The first fire Pokémon you think of!" Anisa watched as Rin thought a moment.

"Got it!" she said. She became a Magby in a flash of red light. Her younger sister tried to hold back a laugh. "What?" Rin asked.

"You're...you're a baby Pokémon!" she shouted. Anisa started rolling around on the ground laughing. "You're so cute! Do you want a bottle? Hahaha!" Rin started to get aggravated. "Does ittle-wittle baby want a nappy-wappy? Ooo, isn't she just adorable?" Rin's nerves began to bulge. "Haha! Here's a teddy-weddy for the baby-waby! Hoo, boy!" Rin had finally had it. Waddling up to her younger sister, she blew a powerful Flamethrower at the laughing wreck, scorching her. "YOWCH!" she squealed, jumping up into the air. "Stop, drop, roll, stop, drop, roll!" Rin laughed as Anisa desperately tried to extinguish the flames, finally succeeding by jumping into a nearby lake. She transformed back into a Glaceon.

"Do you want me to blast you with ice, too?" she said between chuckles. Anisa glared at her.

"You're dead meat." She leapt at her snickering sister, who moved to the right and watched as Anisa fell flat on her face. "Ouch," she muttered, rubbing her head. "This must not be my day..."

_THUMP!_

"What was that?" asked Rin. Anisa shrugged.

"Something that goes _thump_," she said.

"You're a big help," her sister muttered sarcastically.

_THUMP!_

This time, the sound was louder. "It's getting closer!" Anisa cried.

_THUMP!_

"Hey, I see something!" said Rin. She pointed toward a large, bulky silhouette heading straight towards them.

"What is it?" asked the Leafeon nervously.

It was huge. Large supportive legs held up an enormous building. There were multiple floors, windows, and a flat rooftop with a balcony. Anisa's and Rin's mouths were open in shock. "Wow," was all Rin managed to say. The thing stopped a few yards away from them. Its legs bent until the building part touched the ground. There was silence for a while. Until suddenly, out of the blue...

"I think I'll call it Bob!"

Rin slapped her head. "Anisa," she mumbled.

"What?" The Glaceon rolled her eyes.

"Maybe we should check it out," she offered.

"Okay!" shouted her younger sister. "We're coming, Bob!" she called. Rin sighed as she followed her eager sister toward the thing that, unbeknownst to them, would change their lives forever.

* * *

"What is it, Jolteon?" Umbreon asked the yellow fox through mouthfuls of spaghetti.

"Yeah, where's the fire?" said Mesprit as he bit into a meatball. Jolteon scanned the group. He saw Flareon, somewhat huddled in a corner. _She must still feel awful about the Mewtwo deal...maybe this should wait..._ The electric fox shook his head.

"Um, guys, remember the story Mew told us?" His friends nodded. "Remember the Fire Elementalist?" His eyes were focused on Flareon now, and she began to look uncomfortable. He was trying to bring up the subject gingerly so as not to hurt her feelings, but it didn't seem to be working.

"She was the one who could see people's souls, right?" Kiki said without much thought. Flareon started to shift uneasily.

"How do you think she saw their souls?" Jolteon asked, hoping that they'd put the pieces together. Lucario shrugged.

"It could be any way," he said.

"Yeah, like some kind of label or something," offered Umbreon, a bit confused about why they were on this topic. "I wonder what it looked like."

"I would have asked Mew if she was awake, but..." _You idiots!_ Jolteon screamed mentally. _Do I need to spell it out?_

"Um, Jolteon?" Everyone looked back at Flareon, who had finally spoken. "Did you say that the Elementalists were reincarnated?" she asked quietly. Jolteon nodded.

"That's how the story goes," he said.

"And isn't that why Mewtwo attacked?" asked Kiki, her mouth full. "Because he thought that one of us was an Elementalist?"

"Yeah," agreed Lucario.

"Um, do you think that the Fire Elementalist saw the souls as," Flareon stuttered, "uh, you know, hearts?"

"Maybe," said Mesprit. Then his mouth dropped open. "Oh my god, do you think that...?" He looked at Flareon.

"Think what?" asked Umbreon. She followed Mesprit's gaze. "What do we think?"

"I'm not very hungry," said the fire fox suddenly. "May I be excused?" Kiki nodded, and Flareon pushed her chair in and walked away quickly.

"Mesprit, what were you going to say?" asked Lucario.

"What if Flareon was the Elementalist?" he said quietly. Umbreon's eyes widened.

"But that would mean..." There was a short silence.

"FLAREON!" they all screamed.

* * *

Vaporeon was snoozing peacefully when a sudden _thump_ woke her up. She lifted her head drowsily, rubbing the sleepers from her eyes. "Ugh," she muttered. She looked up at the clock. "Wow, that was a long afternoon nap." Yawning, the water fox stretched her legs and walked over to the window. "Why'd we stop moving?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Who knows?" Vaporeon jumped as Espeon appeared out of nowhere right behind her.

"Where'd you come from?"

"Who knows?" The water fox slapped her head.

"Big help." Espeon nodded.

"I know. You're welcome," she said. She sat down and yawned.

"DIRTBAG!"

The two Eeveelutions shuddered as the voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

"Change the oil _now,_ flea bait! I want to be moving by sundown!" Espeon sighed.

"Do think he even knows my name?" she asked sarcastically. Vaporeon laughed, then glanced at the clock.

"You've got an hour until sundown," the water fox said matter-of-factly. Espeon looked up at the clock, too.

"Holy crap, you're right!" she muttered, racing out of the room. Vaporeon watched her dash down the hall. Then she lay down, head in her paws. She sighed.

"I'm bored," she said. Looking around for something to occupy herself, Vaporeon noticed a certain psychic cat trudging down the hall. "Gee," she muttered to herself, "Mewtwo's not looking too hot." She was right. His violet eyes to the ground, Mewtwo shuffled along slowly. Although Vaporeon knew she really shouldn't care, something inside her told her otherwise. "You okay?" she asked. Mewtwo looked up at her, then looked down again and kept moving. "I'll take that as a no," she muttered. Against her better nature, she walked out into the hallway and started following him. He glanced back at her, and, thinking that if he ignored her she would leave, pretended not to notice. He thought wrong.

"Hey, you do know that it's rude to not answer someone when they're talking to you!" Mewtwo finally turned around.

"Why are you following me?" he asked, annoyed. Vaporeon stopped and shrugged. "Could you stop?"

"Nope not really." Mewtwo sighed.

"Look, if you're really that concerned, I'm fine. Now leave me alone." With that he turned and walked away. Vaporeon sat there and watched him go.

"Something's not right here," she muttered to herself. "But whatever it is," she said, "I'm going to find out."

* * *

Flareon turned around. _Crap,_ she thought, _why couldn't I have kept my big mouth shut?_ "Um, what is it, guys?" she asked, trying to play innocent.

"We might have a problem," said Umbreon, her crimson eyes piercing holes through Flareon's black ones.

"Don't we always?" She tried to break eye contact, shifting away nervously.

"Flareon, this is serious," Lucario said. "Could you tell us _exactly_ what you saw this morning?" From the sound of his voice the fire fox could tell that he was patronizing her.

"Yeah, Flareon, what happened?" Kiki used the same voice that Lucario was using.

"I...I already told you," she stuttered. "And then you guys told me that I must have been seeing things!"

"But we're not so sure about that now," said the dark fox. Flareon looked at Jolteon, hiding behind the group and cringing. He had good reason to; he had brought this up in the first place!

"Like I've said," Flareon muttered, "I told you everything." She noticed the scornful looks everyone was giving her. When she had evolved, she thought that she was going to be treated like an adult, like everyone else. And she had been! Why, all of a sudden, was she a baby again?

"Flareon," said Mesprit, "Mew's still lying on the couch in a coma! If there's something about Mewtwo you're not telling us, we need to know! Don't you understand that?" He might not have noticed, but his voice began to rise and his face was turning red. Flareon started to shrink back.

"I already told you...," she whispered. She felt hot tears start to well up in her eyes. She shrunk back even more.

"Um, guys?" Jolteon said quietly, but the others took no notice.

"What happened?" Kiki nearly shouted.

"Tell us!" demanded Mesprit.

"You have to!" yelled Umbreon.

"This is really important!" hollered Lucario.

"Guys?" Jolteon muttered again. "Maybe we should..."

"Flareon!"

"Flareon!"

"Flareon!"

"Flareon!"

"STOP!!!" Flareon screamed. They looked at her and were about to protest her sudden outburst when they saw her face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her yellow mane had changed to a fiery orange. She screamed again. "Just leave me alone!" Then she ran out the door, slamming it behind her. The group stood there, awestruck at what just happened. Suddenly, a just-awaken Mew floated into the room, eyes half-open, and yawned. Her voice broke the awkward silence.

"Did I miss something?"

* * *

Leave it to Mew to do something like that.

Okay, I'll try to get the next chapter up before the holidays are over. Sorry about the really long wait...again...

-Umbreon Mastah

Umbreon: Hey, I didn't get to say anything!...oh, wait, I just did...


	9. It Happened at the Hideout

...um, hi.

I'm in trouble, aren't I?

Umbreon: Yep.

(bonks Umbreon on the head) Yeah..._really_ sorry about the wait, guys (blame Guitar Hero III). I've probably said this about a million times now, but I'm really sorry it took so long. But here it is, the next chapter (finally). Have fun with it.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon, darn it!

Voila!

* * *

Flareon ran, tears flowing from her eyes. She didn't stop to look back; she kept on running. Suddenly, the fire fox tripped on a small stone and lost her balance. She fell forward face first and landed in the dirt. Flareon pulled herself up and wiped the dirt off. It, mixed with the hot tears, simply spread across her face. She sighed and looked up at the sky. The sun had started to set. "It's gonna get dark soon," Flareon mumbled to herself. "Where should I go?" Home came to mind, but she shook the thought out of her head. Going home meant going back to her friends, and that meant another round of "Flareon! Flareon! FLAREON!" No, she wasn't going home. But then, where _was_ she going to go? The fire fox trudged on, trying not to think about that. A cold wind past by her, and she shivered.

"Dang it!"

Flareon looked up. Who said that? She turned her head to the right to see a large dome-shaped building. "When did that get there?" she asked herself. Then the fire fox noticed a purple figure flitting around the back of the building.

"Dang, dang, DANG!" the figure cursed. Curious, Flareon walked up to her.

"Um, what's wrong?" she asked. The figure, an Espeon, turned around with a jump.

"Holy crap!" she exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," the fire fox muttered. The Espeon smiled.

"Hey, it's nothing!" Then a loud spluttering noise from behind her cut her off. "If this stupid engine doesn't get fixed soon, that bird-brained doofus is going to have my head!" She started mumbling to herself. Flareon cocked her head to see what the problem was.

"It doesn't look so hot," she said.

"I can see that," the Espeon replied, tapping the motionless engine with a wrench.

"No," Flareon told her, "I mean, it looks too cold." The psychic fox glanced at the engine and put her paw on it.

"You're right!" she exclaimed with sudden realization.

"Watch out," said the fire fox. The Espeon stepped back as Flareon blew embers over it. It started to hum and vibrate.

"Amazing!" muttered the Espeon. "Thanks, you just saved my neck." Flareon smiled. "My name is Espeon," the psychic fox said, holding out her paw.

"I'm Flareon," she replied, shaking it. The two Eeveelutions eyes met, and out of the corner of her eye Flareon saw a faint glow. She glanced downward.

It was another heart!

Espeon's heart was like the color of Mewtwo's, besides it being a little pinker and sparkly. _So I wasn't seeing things!_ Flareon thought, smiling. Espeon noticed the fire fox's sudden grin.

_There's something about her...,_ she thought to herself. _Maybe I'm just getting a bit overexcited, but still..._ The psychic fox closed her eyes just to be sure.

Lo and behold, there was the red dot right next to the purple one!

Now, while these two were making their discoveries, neither of them noticed the vibrating of a voice box that hung on the outside wall...that is, until the vibrating grew so powerful that it started to bang against the wall. Espeon glanced backward, annoyed.

"Crap," she muttered. "Excuse me for a second." She regretfully pushed the button that said "Vibrate Off."

The psychic fox was met by an explosive "ANSWER ME, FLEA BAG!"

Sighing, Espeon said, "I'm sorry, sir, what did you say?"

There was a growl of impatience from the other side of the box. "Are you finished yet?" asked the voice. Flareon's ears perked up. Didn't she know that voice from somewhere?

"Yes, sir," answered Espeon monotonously. "It's fixed, sir."

"Good. Get up here NOW, you lousy slacker!" There was a click, and then it was quiet.

Espeon broke the silence. "He's got to run out of names to call me _eventually._" Flareon giggled, and then they both started laughing. Finally, the laughter died down, and Espeon said, "Well, I should probably get up there before he starts screaming again." She started to walk away before stopping and asking, "Hey, where are you headed?" Flareon hesitated.

"Um...," she said, "I'm going somewhere. I just...don't exactly know where." Espeon looked at her.

"You don't have a place to stay?" she asked with concern. The fire fox shook her head. "Well..." The psychic fox glanced at the building. "You can stay here, but you're going to have to trust me, okay?" she told her. Flareon knew from past experiences that those words usually meant something bad was going to happen, but she remembered Espeon's heart and how it seemed like a good heart.

"Alright then," she said. "What do I need to do?"

* * *

Anisa tapped the side of the huge metallic...um...thing. "What do you think it is?" she asked her sister.

"I don't know," Rin answered, "but I'd suggest not touching it until we found out." The Leafeon drew her paw back quickly. She checked it to make sure that it was still in one piece.

"It looks like some kind of house," she said. "Do you think we should go in?"

"No," said the Glaceon flatly.

"Please!" pleaded Anisa.

"No," Rin said again.

"Pretty please!"

"No."

"You're no fun," the Leafeon pouted. Rin tried to hold back a laugh at her kid sister's face.

"Breaking and entering is not fun, it's against the law," she told her. Anisa stuck her tongue out at her. She walked over to the metal house and tapped on it three times.

"It's not breaking and entering if we knock," she said smartly. Rin sighed.

"Two minutes inside, okay? Then will you stop bothering me?"

"Yesyesyesyesyes!" screamed Anisa. She hugged her older sister. "I love you!" The Glaceon rolled her eyes.

"You're very easily pleased," she muttered. Rin focused on the image of a ghostly figure in her head. After a few seconds she had transformed into a Haunter. "Come on!" she said, grabbing Anisa with her ghostly hands and turning them both transparent. She floated through the wall and transformed back. Glancing at the Leafeon she asked, "What's wrong?"

Anisa was shaking all over. "Hands...cold...," she managed to say. Rin slapped her head.

"Sheesh, Anisa, for a second there you had me thinking that something was really wrong," she said.

"Well, sorry, but they were!" her sister exclaimed. She glanced around. "What kind of house is this?" she asked. The walls were grey and there was a stone floor. Boxes littered the floor.

"The storeroom of one," said Rin matter-of-factly.

"Oh," Anisa said, poking on the boxes. It fell over to reveal about five dozen bouncy balls. "Fun!" she screamed, chasing the balls as they bounced around the room.

"I can see that you're amused easily, too," Rin said, sighing. Suddenly, the room jerked, throwing the two Eeveelutions against the wall. "What was that?" asked the Glaceon. Anisa shrugged. The room jerked again. This time it sent a few boxes careening toward them.

"Watch out!" the Leafeon called, ducking to narrowly avoid a box full of lifting weights. Then Rin realized something.

"I think we're moving!" she cried. "We've got to get out of here!" But before she could transform, an avalanche of boxes toppled toward her. The Glaceon screamed as the boxes fell on top of her.

"Rin!" Anisa cried. There was no noise from the mountain of boxes. She screamed again. "No! Rin!"

* * *

Mewtwo sat on his bed, looking out the window. He sighed. Maybe something _was_ wrong with him. He wasn't usually this sulky. "I need chocolate," the psychic cat muttered to himself. Mewtwo tried to remember where he had put the chocolate bar he was eating last night, but his mind started to wander away from that subject and towards a more delicate topic.

Flareon.

Why did he keep thinking about her? Ever since their battle, she had kept crawling back into her mind, and he couldn't figure out why.

_That time when she tackled me, _he thought,_ it hurt, but her fur was so...soft. And her eyes..._ Mewtwo stopped mid-thought. "No," he told himself. "Bad thoughts." The psychic Pokémon sighed. What would happen if they battled again? Would he freeze up like that? He probably would have been dead by now if she hadn't frozen, too.

Wait, she froze, too?

"Why would she...?" Mewtwo started to say, but then he stopped. He should just stop thinking about Flareon in general. "I just admire her strength, that's all," he said, as if to satisfy himself. He let his eyes wander to the window. Then he gasped.

She was outside. Right now. With Espeon. And they were heading towards the door.

Mewtwo sighed. Maybe not thinking about Flareon was going to be harder than he thought.

* * *

The sun was nearly down as the six silhouettes wandered through the darkened valley.

"Flareon!" called Umbreon. "Flareon, we're sorry!"

"You'd better be," muttered Mew. "I mean, I fall asleep for five minutes and..."

"Mew," interrupted Mesprit, "you were in a coma for five _hours_."

"Oh," the cat-like Pokémon said. "But that doesn't make it any better!" Mesprit looked down.

"I know..."

"We all were a little hard on Flareon," said Lucario. Mew almost laughed.

"A little?"

"You aren't helping, Mew!" the dark fox shouted. "Flareon!" she called again. "Where are you?"

"I can't believe that we did that," said Kiki regretfully. She had lost her usual carefree attitude and instead kept her eyes to the ground the entire time. Umbreon walked up to her and rubbed against her leg.

"Stop being so hard on yourself, Kiki," she said. "It was all of our faults, not just yours."

"Yeah," agreed Jolteon, who was still kicking himself for bringing this up in the first place.

"But it's not mine!"

"MEW, SHUT UP!" they all shouted at her.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's getting cold out," said Mesprit with a shiver. "Do you think Flareon went back to the house?" Kiki shook her head.

"I wouldn't have," she said. "She probably thinks we're going to yell at her some more."

"At that time, we probably would have," Lucario sighed.

"Guys, less moping, more calling," said Umbreon. "Flareon!"

"We're going to find her, Kiki," Jolteon told the brunette reassuringly. Kiki looked up at the sky and sighed.

"I hope so."

* * *

Flareon still wasn't sure about this big master plan of Espeon's, but she was starting to wish that she hadn't agreed to do this. The two of them were approaching the office door, and now that this contraption was moving again, there was no turning back. Espeon must have noticed the fire fox's anxiety because she told her, "Don't worry. It'll be fine, I promise." Not believing her, Flareon nodded anyway, if only to prove that she wasn't just a bundle of nerves. The two of them stopped in front of a mahogany door, and the psychic Pokémon raised her paw to knock.

"Enter," came a malignant voice. Espeon pushed the door open and led Flareon inside. Sitting in a large chair was none other than Ciar. "Flea bag," he said impatiently, "what took you so long?" Flareon gulped as Espeon said the words that she had been dreading, right on cue.

"I found another Elementalist, sir."

* * *

Ooo...DRAMA!!

There you go folks. Hopefully the next one won't be a month long wait...

Umbreon: Bet'cha five bucks it will be.

(bonks Umbreon on the head again) Well, until next time, ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah


	10. We Might Have Some Problems

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!!!

Umbreon: God, would you please SHUT UP?

Nope! Anyway, another delay, I know, but I think this chapter is pretty good.

Umbreon: Note the "I think."

Shush! And you people out there! Read!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, 'kay? DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?

* * *

"Rin!" cried Anisa. "Rin, where are you?" Tears began to well up in the young Leafeon's eyes as she frantically tried to pull the boxes away. "Please, Rin, answer me!" she nearly screamed. Suddenly, a flash of blue caught her eye. "Rin?" Anisa asked anxiously. She pushed the boxes aside to find her sister, lying motionless on the ground.

"Rin, no!" she cried. Anisa dragged the Glaceon out into the center of the room. She felt Rin's wrist to check for a pulse. The Leafeon nearly died of relief when she felt a faint but steady beating. "Thank god," she muttered to herself. But she didn't have time to rest. Anisa remembered hearing somewhere that you had to keep victims awake, or they could die in their sleep. Thinking quickly, she looked around the room for something loud and annoying. She frantically reached for the first box.

"Noisemakers?" she asked, a bit surprised that she would find something as random as that. Shrugging, the Leafeon shook it right next to Rin's ear. There was no reaction. Anisa bit her lip. "Next box!" she cried suddenly.

About fifteen cymbal claps, ten blow horns, five snare drums, and an entire tap dance later, Rin still hadn't moved in the slightest. Exhausted, Anisa started to reach for the next box when she heard footsteps. She jumped.

Maybe she had been a little _too _loud and annoying.

* * *

Only small specks of light from flashlights and the dim glow of Umbreon's rings showed against the now black sky. "It's getting late," said Lucario. 

"We can't give up," Kiki told him, her voice barely a whisper. "Flareon's still out there." She wiped a single tear from her eye. Jolteon looked up at the brunette's face. He could tell that she was very upset. The electric fox sighed. It was his fault, and he knew it.

_Ciar._

Jolteon's ears twitched. Was he hearing things again?

_Ciar._

"Oh, shut up," he muttered. Mew gave him an angry glare.

"How about you shut up?" she said menacingly, apparently thinking that his comment was directed towards Kiki.

"Huh?" Mew glared at him again. "Oh," he said with realization, "I was just talking to myself." The pink cat's expression changed to confusion.

"You were telling yourself to shut up?" she asked. "Gee, and I thought _I_ had problems."

"No, no, no!" said Jolteon. "It's just..."

"Just what?" asked Umbreon. The electric fox shook his head.

"You'd think I was crazy."

"We already do," Mew said. Jolteon sighed.

"It's nothing," he told them. "I'm probably just hearing things."

"Things like what?" Mesprit asked him. The electric fox hesitated in answering.

"Just...stuff..." Mesprit shrugged.

"Whatever," the pixie Pokémon said. However, since he had turned his head to look at Jolteon, Mesprit had stopped watching where he was going and crashed into Kiki, who crashed into Mew, who crashed into Umbreon, who hit the ground headfirst. Unable to stop fast enough, Jolteon tripped over the jumbled mess. Lucario shuddered and slowly turned around.

"I knew it," he said regretfully.

"What?" asked Umbreon.

"I'm surrounded by idiots."

This, of course, resulted in the chasing of a certain fighting type by a certain dark type.

"It was a joke! A joke!" shouted Lucario as he dashed around in circles, a maniacally laughing Umbreon on his tail. The friends laughed at the scene before them. Even Kiki let out a small giggle when Umbreon tackled Lucario to the ground.

"We should probably head back now," said Mew finally. "We can call the police when we get there." The others nodded sullenly, their happy mood suddenly broken after being jerked back to reality. They started to turn away when Umbreon noticed something.

"What's that?" she said, pointing to a large silhouette in the distance. The group looked on in astonishment.

It was big. It was bad.

And it went _thump_.

* * *

Flareon decided that now would be a good time to assess her situation. Number one: she was in her archenemy's hideout. Number two: she was in a _cage_ in her archenemy's hideout. Number three: she was in a cage with a _happy-go-lucky Vaporeon_ in her archenemy's hideout. She sighed. 

Things were going exactly as planned.

After about five minutes of Vaporeon babbling on about how great it was to finally have company and how it got really lonely when Espeon wasn't there and if she thought it might rain tomorrow, Flareon was sure that being in here probably made you senile, and she started to wonder when she'd go over the edge. Finally, Espeon appeared at the door. She opened the cage and let the other two Eeveelutions out.

"Sheesh, you took long enough," complained Vaporeon. The psychic fox merely stuck out her tongue.

"Blame the bubblehead," she said. The water fox let out a small laugh.

"What, did he make you do paperwork?" she asked jokingly. Flareon was a bit puzzled about how Vaporeon could be such good friends with an enemy.

"He might as well have," Espeon said. She sighed. "He's expecting me to be on twenty-four/seven Elementalist radar now."

"And you're going to live up to his expectations why?" Both of them laughed. Even Flareon found it somewhat amusing, but she tried her best to keep a straight face. She had all but lost her trust in Espeon, even if she did have a good heart. However, it was somewhat hard to keep a straight face during the events that followed.

A sudden noise made the three Eeveelutions jump. "What was that?" asked the fire Pokémon. Espeon shrugged. Then came a cymbal crash. And another. And another.

"It's probably all of the junk in the basement crashing together," shouted Espeon as the crashes changed to blow horns and then to drums. This was a perfectly good explanation until the noise became a crisp and not very even time step. "Okay, maybe I should go check it out," she said, her ears hurting from the bad tap dancing piled on top of all the other noise. The psychic fox walked down the hallway.

Vaporeon must have seen the distrust in Flareon's eyes because as soon as Espeon was out of earshot, she said, "Don't worry, she works for the Popcorn."

Flareon was now one hundred percent sure that being in here made you senile. "The what?"

"Oh, that's not right!" the water fox said. "But it was the POP-something."

"Alright then," she answered.

"So, do you think it might rain tomorrow?"

Flareon just shut her ears. Babbling again. S-E-N-I-L-E. The fire fox let her eyes wander to the hallway. She thought that she saw a shadow. Maybe Espeon had come to save her from the babbling brook. But it wasn't Espeon.

It was Mewtwo.

The first thought that crossed Flareon's mind was _Oh god._ The second was _This is just perfect._ And the third was _Please, please, please don't look this way. _But, of course, there was no such luck.

Their eyes met for a second-no more than a second-and already both of their faces were gushing red. Mewtwo quickly looked away and kept walking, if not more quickly than before.

"Flareon? Flareon? FLAREON! EARTH TO FLAREON!!!" Flareon suddenly jumped and tripped over her own feet. Her head crashed against the corner of the cage. "Flareon, are you okay?" the water fox cried. She shook off the shock. The first thing she noticed was that her head was feeling a bit warm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said dizzily. The fire fox but her paw up to her head. She stopped in horror.

It felt wet.

"What's wrong?" asked Vaporeon with concern. Then she saw the oozing blood from Flareon's wound. "Oh my god! Flareon!" Flareon looked down at her blood-covered paw.

"I think I'm feeling a little lightheaded," she muttered quietly.

"Flareon, stay with me!" she heard. Vaporeon dashed over and grabbed a paper towel. "Here, hold this over it!" she ordered anxiously. Flareon simply nodded, too woozy to say anything. If there was one thing she hated, it was the feel of blood.

"Hey, Vaporeon?" she asked.

"What is it?" replied the water fox, grabbing bandages from the conveniently-placed first aid kit.

"Since when did you get two heads?" Vaporeon sighed and took the paper towel from Flareon. She had started to wipe the blood away when she noticed something.

"Either I'm seeing things," she told herself, "or that cut just got smaller." She convinced herself that she was just anxious and continued to wipe. She had finally wiped it clean, surprised that the blood had stopped gushing as quickly as it started. Then the water Eeveelution looked up at the wound. Her mouth dropped.

It was shrinking.

"Vaporeon, what's the matter?" Flareon asked. Suddenly, the fire fox realized she wasn't woozy anymore. "Vaporeon, am I dead? Oh god, I'm dead, aren't I? You can't hear me, can you? Goodbye, cruel world!"

"Be quiet," she retorted. "You're not dead."

"GLEE!!!" Vaporeon just shook her head and sighed. "If I'm not dead," asked Flareon, "then why did my head stop hurting?"

"I...don't...know," the water fox said. "The wound's...gone!"

"What?" Flareon put her paw up to her head again, expecting to feel another handful of blood. Instead, all that was there was her fur. "Oh my god," she muttered. "It really is!" Her gaze drifted to the hallway. Mewtwo was there, his face showing a state of shock.

"Crap," she said under her breath, blushing, "he saw the whole thing!"

"What was that?" Vaporeon asked.

"Huh? I didn't say anything." Vaporeon wasn't so sure. She followed her gaze to the hallway. Mewtwo had already disappeared, but the water fox had a strange feeling that he had been there a second ago.

"Oh," she said. "Well, I should probably get you some ice, just in case." Flareon nodded, and Vaporeon walked into the hallway.

She would go get ice. But she had to pay someone a visit first.

* * *

Anisa had all of three seconds to think. Quickly, she dragged Rin back behind the boxes and waited. Hopefully, whoever it was wouldn't look too hard. The Leafeon heard the door open. 

"Hello?" Anisa could hardly breathe. She prayed that they wouldn't be found. "I could've sworn that I heard someone," said the voice again. "Hmm, maybe I'm just imagining things."

_Yes, you're imagining things,_ Anisa thought silently. She allowed herself a small peak. The voice came from an Espeon with a small scar under her right eye. The Espeon turned to leave. Anisa was trying not to let out a sigh of relief when she heard a cough from behind her.

Of all the times to come to, Rin had to choose now.

The Leafeon tried to shush her sister quietly, but Rin's eyes didn't seem to be focusing on anything. She coughed again. Frantically, Anisa looked at the Espeon, hoping that she didn't hear. She had stopped and was looking around. Anisa bit her lip. Then, the psychic Eeveelution closed her eyes, like she was meditating. When she opened them again, she looked like she had just eaten a bad cream puff. The Espeon hurried out the door and closed it. Anisa let out her breath anxiously. "Thank god," she muttered. Then she looked down at her sister. Rin coughed again.

This time, there was blood.

"Oh, no!" Anisa cried. "Rin, say something!"

"Something," the Glaceon muttered sarcastically. Anisa was both relieved and annoyed to find that her sister still had a sense of humor. "Anisa," she said, this time her tone much more serious, "I'm seeing red."

"Please tell me you're joking," said Anisa. But she looked to see that a red glaze had indeed formed over Rin's eyes. "I think I'm gonna be sick," she muttered.

"You can't get sick," said Rin. "Apparently, that's my job now." Anisa didn't respond to this. "Anisa," she asked, "please don't tell me I'm bleeding." Suddenly, the Leafeon remembered something.

"Oh, no," she said.-

_-"Mommy, why can't Rin play with us?"_

_"Anisa, you can't play rough with Rin, okay?"_

_"I know that, Mommy! You're not supposed to play rough with anyone!"_

_"I'm glad you know that, honey. But Rin's...special."_

_"What do you mean, 'special'?"_

_"If she starts bleeding, it...won't stop. So you have to be extra careful, okay?"_

_"Okay, Mommy! I'll be extra careful, I promise!"-_

-Rin's hemorrhage had always just been there, just a fact, like that the sky was blue and that putting your fingers near the stove wasn't a good idea. Anisa had never thought that something would actually happen. But now here she was, her sister internally bleeding and borderline conscious. "Rin," she said, "we can't hide anymore. We need to get you help."

"I think we've established that," muttered the Glaceon. Her voice was getting quieter and raspier by the second. Anisa dashed over to the door. She pulled on the knob.

It was locked.

"Of all the rotten luck!" she screamed. The Leafeon banged against the door over and over again, but it wouldn't open. She fell backwards, exhausted. One thought alone stood out in her mind.

If she didn't get help, Rin was going to die.

* * *

Mewtwo was completely and utterly confused. He'd seen people crack their heads open. Heck, _he_ had cracked people's heads open. Why was Flareon any different? Why did he turn and go back as soon as he heard her cry out? Why, instead of amusement or satisfaction or even disgust, did he feel fear when he saw her? Did he fear for_ her?_ The psychic Pokémon shook the thought out of his mind. "No," he said to himself as he opened the door to his room, "I was just overly anxious." Somehow, his explanation didn't seem to click. Mewtwo sighed and picked up the chocolate bar he had left on his dresser. He was about to take a bite when he felt a presence at the door. "What do you want?" he growled. 

Vaporeon, who was sitting at the doorway with a smirk on her face, said, "I finally figured it out." She gave him a look that could pierce glass. Mewtwo wasn't fazed in the least.

"Figured what out?" he asked condescendingly. The water fox sauntered into the room.

"You've met Flareon before, haven't you?" she said with faux innocence. Mewtwo's collected attitude completely shattered at Flareon's name.

"What? No!"

"I'll take that as a yes," said Vaporeon smartly as Mewtwo's face started to go red. With anger or embarrassment, he didn't know. She closed one eye lazily. "You like her, don't you?"

"No!" he shouted again.

"You do," the water fox said.

"I don't!"

"Do."

"Don't!"

"Do."

Mewtwo couldn't take it anymore. "I've already told you I don't!" _But if you don't,_ said a small voice in the back of his mind, _why are you so upset?_ "Why would you care anyway?" he asked, half trying to get rid of Vaporeon and half trying to shut his stupid conscious up.

"Because if something's going on, I want to know about it," she said smartly, as if that was the answer to everything. "And if you ask me, something's definitely going on."

"And why is that?" asked Mewtwo, glaring at her. She shrugged.

"You're acting strange, Flareon's acting strange. It's a bit obvious that you two like each other," said Vaporeon simply.

"For the last time, I don't like her!"

"Yeah...," muttered Vaporeon, not convinced. "And the sky is going to turn lime green tomorrow morning. Now come on." She grabbed the psychic cat's arm and dragged him out into the hall.

"Hey! Put me down!" he shouted. He sure hoped that no one was watching. This looked pretty pathetic. "Where are you going? Stop it!"

"_I'm _going to get ice," she said, smirking. "_You, _however, are going right here." She let go of him, letting him fly into the large room and right into none other than Flareon. "Au revoir!"

"What in the name of...?" said the fire fox. She looked up, stars in her eyes, when she saw Mewtwo. "Oh...," she said. "Hi..."

"Um..." Mewtwo was at a loss for words. "...sorry about that..."

"It's...fine..." God, why was it so hard to talk to her? The psychic Pokémon looked at her. The fire fox had her eyes to the ground, and she was blushing uncontrollably. Mewtwo suddenly realized how..._cute_ she looked. He realized that his face was also a bright red. _Oh god, _he thought, _I can't like her! _He took another look at the fire Eeveelution.

_Can I?_

* * *

After a few minutes of running, Umbreon and co. finally caught up to the large...thing... "What is it?" asked Kiki. No answer. 

"Guys, look!" said Lucario, pointing. Their gaze shifted to a large symbol, a red P with a slash through it.

"Oh, wonderful!" Mew cried. "Just perfect! We've run right into a death trap!" Jolteon looked at her, confused.

"If Ciar had noticed us," asked Mesprit, "wouldn't he have stopped?"

"Wait, this is Ciar's...thing?" the electric fox asked in shock.

"Yeah, that's his symbol," explained Umbreon. "Why? What's wrong?" Jolteon shuddered. He remembered the voices in his head.

"Guys," he said, "I think Flareon's in there."

* * *

-ADADUM- 

There you have it! Hopefully (and yes, I'm saying this again), there won't be a long delay next time. Until then, keep on reviewing!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah

Umbreon: FINALLY SHE SHUTS UP!

Be quiet, you...


	11. Snap!

Umbreon: Hello my friends! Umbreon Mastah's not exactly able to talk right now...

...it's still February it's still February...

Umbreon: Yeah. She's in a state of shock because the chapter didn't take a month to write. So I'm going to be speaking for her!

...oh god no...

Umbreon: Anyway, the disclaimer is that my pal Umbreon Mastah here does not own Pokemon. If she did, I'd be in big trouble! So, read! Have fun! Grab some popcorn! (grabs popcorn)

...no my popcorn!

* * *

Umbreon blinked. "Are you serious?" The electric fox nodded. "Completely serious?" He nodded again. "Completely and utterly serious?" He nodded again. "Completely, totally, and utterly...?"

"I think we get it, Umbreon," said Lucario.

"I _am_ serious," Jolteon said. "Completely and totally and...oh, whatever Umbreon said!"

"But how do you know?" asked Mesprit. The electric Eeveelution looked down at the ground. "Is there something you're not telling us, Jolteon?" Jolteon sighed.

"It's just...I've been hearing things."

"You told us that," Mew said.

"I know," he said. "But I just remembered that I heard them before. Twice. And both times it's led us to this big discovery...or something..."

"Wait," asked Lucario, "when have you heard them before?"

"That time I asked about the Elementalists," the electric fox said, "it was because I kept hearing that word, over and over again. And when I figured out about Flareon. I heard the name Amédée in my head." Jolteon paused for a moment. "But now I keep hearing the word _Ciar_."

"So you think that Flareon's been captured by Ciar?" asked Kiki, confused. "How do you know for sure?"

"I don't," he answered.

"But should we risk it?" Lucario asked. The group thought a moment. Then, suddenly, Mew had a brain surge.

"Oh my god," she said. "Why didn't I see it before?"

"What?"

Mew looked at Jolteon. The way he held himself up, the way his black eyes seemed so confused, and yet so wise. It reminded her of someone else, someone she had seen long ago. "You es Hyun Ki! You es Hyun Ki!" She jumped up and down excitedly.

"I es who?" he asked, mimicking Mew's excited tone. The psychic kitten calmed herself down.

"You're an Elementalist!" she said. "You look just like Hyun Ki! I remember!" Then she turned to Umbreon. "And you! You look just like Netra! You have the same eyes!" Umbreon looked at Mew like she was some kind of nut.

"If we're both Umbreon," she said, "wouldn't we both have the same kind of eyes?"

"No!" exclaimed Mew, causing everyone to jump back in shock. "Your eyes! They have a shine I've only seen once before! You're Netra!"

"Wait," said Kiki. "Hold it. The Elementalists' future lives look exactly like them?"

"It would explain everything!" said Lucario, finally getting into it. "Why Jolteon's been hearing things, why Umbreon can use whatever move she wants!"

"No way!" Umbreon looked bewildered. "No! It's just Metronome! I get lucky a lot!"

"No," said Mesprit, "you get lucky _always._ It's true. You two _are_ Elementalists!" He turned to Mew. "You've got to tell us everything you remember about the first Elementalists," he said. Mew nodded.

"Let's see," she started. "Amédée was, of course, the youngest. She became faint at the sight of blood. She was very naïve, and she was always unsure of her powers." This caused some nervous glances among the group. "Um...Chalfon! Chalfon had trouble with blood, too. He had a hemor...hema...hemadie..."

"Hemorrhage?" Umbreon interrupted.

"That's the word! Anyway, he and Samantha were both orphans. They had a real special bond, you know," she said, nodding. "Samantha was naïve, too, and hyper. Very hyper."

"How hyper?" asked Kiki. Mew shuddered.

"Think me on a double espresso."

"Oh," the brunette said.

"Anyway, um, Liorit." Mew glanced up. "Liorit was very hard to read. You could never be sure whose side she was on, that one. She had lost many friends during the war." She paused to think a moment. "Oh, and she had the most noticeable scar!" she said. "Right under her right eye."

"And what about Iara?" asked Jolteon anxiously.

"Hmm, Iara...Iara always had to be in the know," said Mew. "She made friends easily, and could talk for ages. She could talk Uxie awake!"

"That sounds like Vaporeon!" said the electric fox.

"And Flareon!" exclaimed Umbreon. "She's like the spitting image of Amédée!" There was silence for a while.

"Well," said Kiki finally, "it's a good thing we don't know any Glaceon with blood problems, hyperactive Leafeon, or Espeon with scars under their eyes, because if I know any more Elementalists, I might just explode!"

"So, Hyun Ki," the dark fox asked, looking at Jolteon, "where to?"

"To Ciar!" he said. Mesprit looked up with realization.

"Um...guys?" the sprite Pokémon said. "If you're thinking about catching Ciar, you'd better start running." He motioned towards Ciar's moving hideout, which was now quite far away.

"Oh no," whined Mew. "You're can't be serious!"

"I think he is," said Kiki.

"Completely, totally, and...whoa!" Umbreon cried as Lucario dragged her along and the group ran after the hideout.

* * *

Vaporeon knew perfectly well that she could have just Ice Beamed herself some ice cubes for Flareon and been back in about a second, but she wanted to give Flareon and Mewtwo some "alone time." She snickered evilly. Those two were going to admit their love for one another whether they wanted to or not. The water fox sighed. She loved playing matchmaker. 

...which left her thinking of Jolteon. Where was he right now? Was he alright? Vaporeon thought so. Jolteon was a trooper. He wouldn't give up. That's what she loved about him. She knew that it was Mewtwo who tore them apart, but now that she thought about it, she didn't think it was really Mewtwo. No, it was Ciar, playing him like a puppet. Vaporeon sighed again. Deep down, Mewtwo was just like Jolteon: too scared to admit his love for someone. Yeah, she knew that Jolteon liked her. She had known. She just couldn't bring herself to tell him how she felt. "Ha," she said, "I guess that means we're all in the same boat."

But she was ready to jump out and start swimming. And, goshdarnit, she was going to drag Flareon and Mewtwo out with her! Vaporeon smiled as she resolved that the next time that she saw Jolteon, she was going to kiss him. "And Mewtwo and Flareon should learn from my example!" she said happily. The water Eeveelution kept walking down the hallway until she heard a loud bang. The bangs continued. Vaporeon perked up her ears. "Espeon's obviously not dealing with the crashing problem," she said. "Do I have to do everything around here?" She followed the noise until she came upon a large flight of stairs. She looked down to see a door. The banging noise was coming from behind it. Hurriedly, Vaporeon walked down the stairs. She tried to open the door. It was locked.

The banging stopped. Instead, there was a voice.

"Is someone there?"

Vaporeon jumped. "Um...yes..."

"Good! Please, you've got to help me!" said the voice. "Are you that Espeon who came in earlier?"

"No," she replied. "My name's Vaporeon."

"I'm Anisa! Can you unlock the door?" Vaporeon looked down at the knob. There was a keyhole above it.

"It needs a key!" she called.

"Do you know where it is?" asked Anisa.

"Espeon must have it," she said. "She needed it to unlock the door earlier."

"Please find her! And hurry! My sister needs a doctor! She's dying!" That put Vaporeon into a state of shock.

"Don't worry, Anisa," she managed to say. "I'll get help." Then she dashed up the stairs and down the hallway. She kept running until she came to the room that Flareon and Mewtwo were in. The two looked at her with some relief. She guessed that it was going to take longer than she expected to get them together. But there were bigger problems at hand.

"Pleasehelptherearetwogirlsinthebasementandthedoor'slockedandoneofthemisdyingwhere'sEspeonweneedtohurry!" Vaporeon blurted out. Mewtwo and Flareon looked at her, then each other, then back at her.

"What?" asked Flareon. Vaporeon tried to calm herself down. She began again, more slowly.

"There are girls," she said, "in the basement. One's dying, and the door is locked. Espeon has the key. Where is she?"

"I don't know," said Flareon, "but we can't waste time looking for her. We have to go now!" She dragged Vaporeon out of the room and into the hallway. Then she stopped. "Which way is it?" she asked quickly.

"Um..." Vaporeon was in such a hurry, she had forgotten which way she came. "I think...it was...um..."

"It's this way." Vaporeon and Flareon looked at Mewtwo. He floated past them. "Follow me." Shrugging, the duo followed the psychic cat down the hallway.

* * *

Espeon was not happy. 

Two more Elementalists. Two more! That meant that more than half of them were in the hideout! Now, Espeon's original plan had been flushed down the drain. The plan was to gather enough Elementalists to keep Ciar from becoming suspicious while she plotted his downfall, but not enough so that _his_ plan would work! She fingered the key around her neck anxiously. Someone was going to notice that she had locked them in there sooner or later, and that someone would most likely be Mewtwo. And when Mewtwo knew, so would Ciar. Espeon would have to work fast. She sighed as she walked into her room. Nothing ever went her way. The psychic fox took the key off of her neck and hid it underneath her beige pillow. Then she plopped her head into the pillow and screamed.

Espeon lifted her head up. She was extremely aggravated, that's for sure. Maybe she should take a nap. And some Aspirin.

The psychic Eeveelution curled up into a ball on her bed. She had just started counting Mareep when a sudden jerk flung her across the room. She crashed into the wall. "Ouch," she muttered, pulling herself up. "What in the name of Mew was that?" Espeon looked out the window to see that the landscape had stopped moving. "Great," she muttered. "We've stopped. And guess who's going to get all of the blame." Already the voice box next to her was starting to vibrate. Espeon looked at it sourly, then slithered under the covers again.

The bubblehead could fix it himself.

* * *

"How can something that heavy move so fast?" cried Kiki as the group struggled to catch up with the moving hideout. 

"We need to stop it somehow!" said Mew.

"How?" Umbreon asked between panting breaths. Mew shrugged.

"Attack it!" Umbreon screeched to a halt.

"One enormous hideout-stopping thing, coming up!" she called. She twitched her ears. Suddenly, a huge boulder fell out of the sky, right in front of the hideout. The moving legs caught on it, and the entire thing toppled forward.

"Whoa," Jolteon said.

"Was that supposed to be a Rock Smash?" asked Lucario shakily, to which Umbreon replied, "Um...oops?"

"I'm not ever getting on your bad side again," muttered Mesprit.

"Come on guys! Hurry up!" Kiki was already running towards the fallen hideout. The others pressed forward until they reached it. "There's the door!" she said, pointing. It was up high in the air.

"How are we supposed to get up there?" asked the electric fox.

"We don't," said Lucario, grinning, an Aura Sphere charging in his hand. "We blow a hole through it."

"I'm all for unreasonable violence," Umbreon said happily. The two released Aura Spheres at the metal hull. Both of the attacks bounced off and flew off in different directions.

"Yikes!" Mew shrieked as she ducked, narrowly avoiding an Aura Sphere-ed face.

"I don't think that unreasonable violence is going to work," said Kiki.

"But unreasonable violence always works!" Umbreon pouted.

"I second that," came a voice from above. Lucario scowled.

"Ciar," he snarled. Kiki fainted.

"Hello, Lucario," said the notorious villain, stroking his goatee menacingly. He was standing on the top balcony. "Nice of you to join us. And thank you every so muchly for bringing me the Dark Elementalist." He tossed a ball through the air. It exploded into a net. An Aura Sphere from Lucario cut it into two.

"That's Ciar?" Jolteon asked Umbreon nervously.

"Yep," she said. Ciar let out a laugh.

"Do you think that that will stop me?" he shouted. "I've got plenty more where that came from!" With that he threw six more net balls. All of the Pokémon used their attacks to cut the nets before they hit, but the fainted Kiki was helpless. The net ensnared her. She came to.

"Hey!" she shouted. "That's not fair!" Suddenly, she was lifted up into the air and flung onto the balcony. "What the fudge!" she shouted. Ciar waved a small remote control in front of her face.

"Homing device, my dear." Kiki stuck out her tongue. Ciar didn't seem to notice. "If you want her," he shouted down to the astonished Pokémon, "come and get her!" With a maniacal laugh, he dragged Kiki inside.

"Guys!" she called. "Help would be greatly appreciated!"

* * *

Why was he helping them? Mewtwo glanced back at the anxious Eeveelutions following him. Was it because he cared about them? Or about the dying girl in the basement? 

Either way, he was getting soft.

The other thing that amazed him was that they actually trusted him to get them to the basement. They didn't suspect any kind of trickery, or, if they did, they didn't show it. Were they too overcome about the girl? Or did they truly trust him? Mewtwo highly doubted the latter. No one trusted him. He _was_ considered a monster, after all.

But he wasn't going to trick them. He didn't know why, but he wasn't. He knew that if he led them away, if he let that girl die, Flareon would never forgive him.

Hold up a moment.

Why did _he_ care about Flareon?

_You like her, don't you?_

He couldn't. It was impossible. There was no way...

"There it is!" Vaporeon dashed ahead to the door. "Anisa!" she called.

"Vaporeon?" came Anisa's voice. "Do you have the key?"

"Um...," she replied. "We don't have the _key,_ but..."

"...but we're going to open the door anyway!" finished Flareon. "Watch out!" She blew a Flamethrower at the door. The flames hit the door in a beautiful star shape/

_Amazing,_ thought Mewtwo. _Her attacks are so powerful..._ The flames subsided, leaving nothing but a few scratches on the door. "What?" she cried.

"That should have done it!" said Vaporeon. "What's this thing made out of, anyway?" Flareon tackled the door.

"It won't budge!" she said.

"What's going on?" asked Anisa.

"Nothing!" the water fox said. "And that's the problem!" Flareon tackled the door again.

"Come on, move!" she cried. Tears had begun to appear in her eyes. Mewtwo looked at her. She was trying so hard to save someone, someone that she didn't even know!

_Help her, you idiot!_

Ode to joy. The conscience was back. But he wasn't in the mood to argue. _Fine._ Focusing his psychic energy, he tried to move the tumblers in the lock with his mind.

CLICK.

A couple of things happened at once. The doorknob turned. The door flew open. And Flareon, who had been tackling the door at the moment, flew into the room. "Ouch," she muttered. Vaporeon quickly followed her in, with Mewtwo close behind. On the floor was a Glaceon, with a Leafeon glancing worriedly at the three of them beside her.

"Can you help her?" the Leafeon asked helplessly. The Glaceon coughed.

"Anisa, what's going on?" she asked, her voice weak.

"Rin, try to relax," she answered, although she herself was in a panic.

"What happened?" asked Vaporeon.

"The boxes, they fell on her." The water fox looked at her intently, but she couldn't tell what was wrong. Mewtwo looked, too. He had seen that before. Red glaze, trouble breathing, coughing up blood.

"Her lung," he said. Vaporeon, Flareon, and Anisa looked at him. "One of her lungs. It's been crushed."

"What?" cried Anisa.

"How are we going to help her?" the fire fox asked. Mewtwo looked at Vaporeon.

"You can, can't you?"

"Me?" Vaporeon asked. "How would I...?"

"You did it with Flareon," he answered. Obviously, his was the only mind whose was working straight. But maybe that came with the I.Q. over 200. Vaporeon made a face that said, _oh yeah..._ She knelt down beside Rin and touched her chest.

Nothing happened.

"It's not working!" the water fox said with fear. Mewtwo sighed.

"She does have two lungs, you know." Vaporeon made another _oh yeah _face and touched the other side. Suddenly, Rin let out a large cough. She took a huge breath and shot up.

"Oh my god," she muttered. "That was somewhat painful."

"Rin!" Anisa exclaimed. She grabbed the Glaceon and embraced her. Very tightly.

"Anisa...you're...going...to...crush...my...lungs...again..."

"Oh, sorry," she said, letting go. Flareon looked up at Mewtwo.

"How did you know?" she asked. "About the lung?" Mewtwo looked at her.

"...do you really want to know?" Flareon decided against it. Then, something unexpected happened.

The entire place went _down._

Everything flew upward. Boxes crashed into the ceiling, Pokémon crashed into Pokémon. It was a jumbled mess. Then, as the law of gravity says, what goes up must go down. And, contrary to popular belief, gravity _does_ apply to Pokémon.

"Ouch."

Flareon struggled to get up. "Is everyone okay?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Hmm-mmm."

"Yes."

"Maybe..."

"Did anyone else hear that cracking sound?" asked Vaporeon.

"Yes," said the Leafeon. "I think...it was...my back."

"Funny," said Rin, "but look." She pointed to a large crack in the floor. Suddenly, the crack got bigger. And bigger.

"We need to get out of here!" said Mewtwo with sudden realization. But it was too late. The crack suddenly split the floor apart.

Gravity is a very cruel thing, you know.

* * *

Umbreon: A bit crappy, I know. (bites into popcorn) GACKCOUGHHACKOHMYGODI'MDIEING!!!!! 

Ha! That would be Kiki's amazing POPCORN of Death, specially fortified with her very own poffin batter!

Umbreon: gacksplutterugh...

I'm evil, I know. Keep reviewing, people! I hope the chapter was good.

Umbreon: It wasn't hackcough...

Ciao! So Umbreon, do you want some more popcorn?

-Umbreon Mastah

Umbreon: SAVE ME!!!!!!


End file.
